Buzzwords destroy your product
How using buzzwords can negatively influence your approach and understanding of quality.
I recently noticed that whenever I talk to somebody and use buzzwords like “usability” or “to make it lean” I make quotation marks with my fingers. I never decided to do so, it just happened somewhat unconsciously and I figured that there is probably a reason for my distrust in buzzwords.
This is because buzzwords are not only annoying but can drastically influence your quality of work in a negative way. Of course this is not through the mere use of buzzwords, but more through the adoption of the mainstream way of using theses words, as arguments. Even worse they are argument to settle a discussion, for example when somebody on the team wants to have rounded instead of squared buttons they will say, that rounded buttons should be used because of better “usability”.
Now there might or might not be a usability concern with squared buttons and if rounded buttons improve the usability this is of course a valid reason to use them. But by using a buzzword and saying something is more usable you actually say nothing. This is because buzzwords are not specific, but rather a word that stands for an idea. The usability concern with the buttons might be, that squared buttons look too similar to other objects in an interface and thus the user might not be able to differentiate between elements that are mere information and others that require an action. But when you say it is more “usable” this way, hardly anyone will argue, because buzzwords are killer arguments, they always seem right and valid, while in fact, they are empty shells.
How does that harm the quality of your product you ask? Its pretty easy, if you settle an argument with a buzzword and people stop questioning it, you actually stop, what might have been a discussion which uncovers problems and improves your product. You basically stop your quality management before you even look at your product for any length of time and I argue that this will in nearly every case lead to a reduced quality of your product.
To sum it up: Stop using buzzwords and start explaining what you mean. If you can say it in one word, but you can’t say it in two sentences, you are probably wrong in what you say.
