Sometimes, our language idioms get in the way of the top three project management tasks:
- Communicate
- Communicate, and
- Communicate!
A few examples to illustrate.
First, about schedule:
"Slow down" and "Slow up" mean the same thing: make the schedule slower. 'Up' or 'down' is irrelevant; you can choose to go in either direction!
The third hand of the clock is called the 'second hand'. Oh well; I'm not sure if this is a confusion of ordinality or cardinality, or something else.
"After dark" actually means 'after light'; that is, after the sun goes down if you are scheduling a night action.
About risk:
"Fat chance" and "slim chance" mean the same thing: there's not much of a chance that things will go as desired. So, when it comes to weighting a chance, choosing slim or fat is unimportant They may play the same way.
About management:
"Overlook" and "oversee" are quite different management activities. The former means to ignore, while the latter means to observe.
About job satisfaction:
"Work is terrific", but you won't do it unless you are paid.
About experience:
"Wise man" and "wise guy" are really not the same thing at all. The former is about wisdom borne of experience, and latter is about ignorance, regardless of experience
About environment:
"If all the world is a stage" where are your customers going to be? Understanding the customer's environment is one key to quality (in the large sense).
I could go on, but I won't!
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