Industry jargon ruins user experiences

So cut it out.

Whether you’re pivoting (changing direction), evaluating bandwidth (workload capacity), moving the goal post (changing the process to gain an advantage), or consulting the SME (subject matter expert), you’ve probably heard a colleague use industry jargon in an attempt to sound smarter or hide their inability to communicate in clear, simple terms.

The look that says “I have no idea what you’re talking about, and I’m pretty sure you don’t, either.”

So many buzzwords, obscure acronyms, and fringy idioms are sprinkled into workplace conversation one day and become universal, even overused, the next. We hear them, latch on, and perpetuate their confusing sentiments without a second thought. Or even a first thought. Such as, “why I am I saying this?” “Could I say the same thing in fewer words?” “Is my language alienating people?” “Am I intentionally sacrificing clarity to appear smarter?” “Am I the office asshat?”

“If we take a deep-dive into the granular matrices of the paradigm shift in the wheelhouse, we won’t necessarily have to boil the ocean to streamline how we peel the onion while leveraging synergies for scalable and impactful outcomes moving forward.”

Now to be fair, lots of jargon stems from necessity. Teammates nickname a complex idea so they can communicate more quickly amongst themselves. For some teams, there’s an element of morale-boosting to this process.

The problems arise when people adopt jargony phrases in an interest to fit in or hide ignorance, and not because the phrase saves time or helps express complex ideas in simple ways.

Bigger problems arise when the jargon-speak seeps into the work, alienating not only your colleagues, but also your audience.

Purposeful or not, the use of industry jargon in the workplace often leads to separation and division. It tips the power scales toward the person or group that is more verbose, dominant, loud, and loquacious (i.e., full of BS).

“We did it, Smith. We used this list of jargon words to trick them into thinking we’re competent!”

Since some of the most creative powerhouses are more subtle, quiet, and introverted, jargon slingers not only create divisions in the workplace, this essentially shut down some of the most innovative problem solvers on the team.

No amount of experience or professionalism can protect your work from the effects of a pervasive company culture that allows (or unwittingly encourages) industry jargon.

There’s a reason why the top-performing organizations emphasize company culture above all else — because company culture informs employee mindset and behavior, which in turn guides work outcomes.

Companies with cultures based in transparency, honesty, innovation, and positive change attract employees with similar traits. In turn, these employees create products that (ideally) help the user have a clear, authentic, positive experience.

A company culture based in insecurity, one-upmanship, and poor communication will cultivate those traits in their employees, who will — consciously or not — impart aspects of doubt, hesitancy, distrust, and confusion into their products.

It comes down to authenticity.

We can’t claim to shape positive user experiences that are useful, useable, and compelling while immersing ourselves in a cultural language that is ineffective, unproductive, and tedious.

The words we use inspire the mindsets we adopt. So instead of repeating techy buzzwords and mysterious acronyms like college-educated parrots, let’s adopt a language that reflects the work we want to put into the world.