They may be referring to concepts that in their opinion are universally understood and simply use the terminology that seems to be accepted by most. Why we play buzzword bingoįor starters, some people use buzzwords with completely pure intentions. Everyone makes an assumption about what others have meant miscommunication and misalignment ensue. Nobody dares to ask and admit they aren’t sure and so it becomes more convenient to just repeat the buzzword and change nothing. This is the true face of the buzzword bingo: It creates an impression that greatness is about to happen, it fools many into thinking they are aligned and pursue the same objective, while in reality many people simply don’t know what any of the buzzwords mean in practice. You will then be able to observe a ripple effect of the buzzword bingo: While seemingly everyone around the company will be talking about end-to-end customer journeys and a holistic and collaborative approach, very little will change about the product itself and about the way product teams work with each other. The most incredible thing is that many of the people in both groups will then go on to repeat the terms they heard the Voice say, regardless of whether they truly understood them and agreed with the concepts.

Others feel a slight discomfort, not sure they have understood much from what the Voice said, which is a problem considering the Voice is their product leader. Some meeting participants walk away convinced the Voice said some really smart things and leave it at that, maybe because they are not directly responsible for the development of the product and so are not invested in it. There should be some careful mapping out of aspirational customer journeys end-to-end in pursuit of the vision, and always with a strong user focus.Īfter the meeting ends, the Voice is satisfied with a job well done. Teams should always remember that the only way to design a product is through adopting a holistic approach. The Voice makes some big and wise-sounding statements worthy of a senior product leader that s/he is, talking about KPIs, the North Star, and the importance of collaboration.

One Voice seems to dominate the conversation. Imagine this situation: You are in an important meeting with the “best of the best” of your company, discussing the future of a product that has been attracting a great deal of internal attention. I do not think it means what you think it means.

Product leader Marta Rolak looks at the danger to clear communication of corporate buzzwords and suggests some ways to neutralise their threat

Office buzzwords bingo