Top 15 Engineering Terms and Expressions (What they say and what they really mean). Which one is yours?
3
votes
Customer satisfaction is believed to be assured. (We're so far behind schedule that the customer will settle for anything.)
Please see me / Let's discuss it. (I need your help. I've screwed up again.)
The project is in process. (It's so tied up in red tape that it's completely hopeless.)
We're trying a number of different approaches. (We still guessing, at this point.)
Close project coordination. (We met together and had coffee.)
Years of development. (It finally worked.)
We'll have to abandon the entire concept. (The only person who understood the thing just quit.)
We had a major technological breakthrough. (It's boring, but it looks high tech.)
We're preparing a report with a fresh approach. (We just hired a couple of kids out of college.)
Preliminary operational tests proved inconclusive / extremely gratifying. (It blew up when we flipped the switch / Yahoo! It actually worked)
Tell us what you are thinking. (We'll listen, but if it disagrees with what we've already done or are planning to do, forget it.)
We'll look into it. (Forget it! We've got so many other problems already, we'll never get to it.)
No maintenance. (If it breaks, we can't fix it.)
Fax it to me. (I'm too lazy to write it down.)
I haven't gotten your email. (It's been days since I've checked my email.)