Invented a new buzz word today

[legion]

I came up with this in a meeting this morning.

Pyramid building

Definition:
An extremely laborious undertaking done by many people solely for the purpose of making one guy happy.

Usage:
It can be used to describe a laborious process that has little benefit, or an ego project.

Examples:
Our department's new process is an exercise in pyramid building because it adds five hours of work for everyone else just to save the coordination team five minutes of work.

That VP's new pet project is just pyramid building because he's just doing it to improve his resume.

[12own911]

I'm sure it will show up at my work soon...

[Oh Haha]

Awesome!!

That's really thinking outside the box, Legion!

[Jrboulder]

Now that it is being syndicated through PPOT it will soon reach every office in the world. Cool.

[MBAtarga]

you just gave Lubemaster an idea to add a Volume 8!

[vash]

i'm still trying to work "a higgins" into a sentence at work.

[Zeke]

Seems to me your PB is a mountain of air.

[pwd72s]

Back to the bikini soccer thread.

[peppy]

Amway?

[Superman]

It's an excellent buzz phrase. It has at least a couple of layers of meanings and symbolism. Nice. Pyramid-building. With your skill at creating buzz phrases, you should start a consulting business. Buzz phrases sell for a LOT of money.

Oh, and all the things occurring in Manager A's department are for the purpose of improving Manager A's resume. All of it. That's how organizations work. Unions. Governments. And yes, even businesses.

[legion]

Thanks Supe!

And yeah, I think it does have wide applicability. It can be applied to any kind of organization. People do it everywhere. Now we have a name for it.

[Rick Lee]

Try to fit this one into a conversation at work.

[Steve Carlton]

Good one. The lead guy can be the Pharoah.

[romad]

Too many questions regarding part 2.

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by legion

Pyramid building

I like it, but Pyramids are also known for lasting a long time. The activities your are describing do not, and are often frivolous.

This does sound like something straight out of the Dilbert comic strip, which is why I like it so much.

Pyramid on Dilbert.com


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[vash]

i like it.

you "coined" a term. right?

[Dueller]

Add Value by Killing Corporate Jargon

Suzanne Lucas
Wednesday, December 7, 2011



If you are just proactive and think outside the box, we can run this mission-critical project, bringing to the table the high-level learnings and actionable items we plucked like low hanging fruit after the elevator pitch that dictated our next steps.

OK, that hurt to write. I'm sure it hurt to read. But I bet you've heard several of those phrases in the past few days. (And if you haven't, I'm guessing you don't work in corporate America.)

What corporate jargon are you tired of? Career Builder asked 5,000 workers what corporate buzzwords they'd like to see off the table.

Here are the top (or bottom!) phrases that should be banished from the planet:

• Outside the box (31%)
• Low-hanging fruit (24%)
• Synergy (23%)
• Loop me in (22%)
• Best of breed (19%)
• Incentivize (19%)
• Mission-critical (19 %)
• Bring to the table (18%)
• Value-add (17%)
• Elevator pitch (16%)

One that didn't make the list but that drives me up the wall is "ask" as in "I have an ask for you." People, the word is "request." I have a request for you, and I need to ask you a question.

I'm not sure why these types of phrases get picked up and thrown around at corporate meetings. Some people think they originate in dark corners of human-resources departments, which makes sense because too many of us work harder at trying to sound smart than at actually being smart.

Somehow we got the idea that the right phrase will make our ideas sound better. And perhaps they do — if you've got a boss who babbles about thinking outside the box, it makes sense to present your ideas as ones not confined within cardboard. Which leads me to a question? What's so darn bad about the box? Boxes are good. You can carry a lot more inside a box than outside. Things that fit inside a box are more easily mass produced than unique things anyway, and mass production can lead to profit. Seems to me that thinking within the box snags you some low hanging fruit.

[Dueller]

Originally Posted by vash

i'm still trying to work "a higgins" into a sentence at work.

"Higgins" has replaced the venerable "turd in a punchbowl." I.e., That went over like a Higgins.

[M.D. Holloway]

Originally Posted by MBAtarga

you just gave Lubemaster an idea to add a Volume 8!

All over it! But it shall be covered in Vol. 4 under Manpower Failure Prevention! Perfect! You guys are a well of ideas.

[lane912]

we have a list of made up words used in meetings

drafting off exsisting relationships
deep dive
laser focused
elevator speach
premiumness
iconical
epitomation