“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”

George Bernard Shaw

Sometime ago an old memo from Mr. Elon Musk on the overuse of acronyms on SpaceX made headlines. I don’t know Mr. Musk but I can certainly relate to his pain. I have being working in IT and Government projects long enough to know a thing or two about acronyms.

Consider that we have dozens of Ministerial and Non-ministerial departments, mostly with an acronym associated to them. Add to that agencies, public bodies, the hundreds of different groups, teams, projects, systems, platforms, networks, environments, databases most of which are referred through an acronym, or codename, and you start to have an idea of the kind of cryptic communication one can come across from time to time.

Departments also have their own vocabulary and another list of acronyms and jargons has to be mastered or you might feel people are not really speaking English.

To make things more interesting the same acronym can mean different things and some things are called by different acronyms by different people. It can be hard to know when something has fundamentally changed or it is in fact only a “rebranding”.

Sadly, things don’t get any better in the private — and personal — sector. Who has never come across those long email/Linkedin signatures portraying a long list of meaningless acronyms referring to titles and certifications? VP, PO, PMP, CSP, EA, EMEA, CT, … all for the sake of SEO?! 🙂

So let’s start with my standard question: What problem are we trying to solve?

A software or on a broader scope a “project”, is nothing but the expression of (several) conversations. When those conversations are hard “to get”, you are unlikely to reach a good outcome.

In general people use acronyms as a way to save time. Acronyms can also improve memorability. There are also those who feel insecure at work and think acronyms make them look professional. It gives some kind of credibility, like a dialect for the initiated, “yo G, I’m from the gang”!

For the ones who are not part of the gang, they can distract, confuse, impare, alienate, obliterate, and generally f* up a conversation.

You want to improve quality? Start by improving your conversations.

So here are a few ideas on how to escape the DBA, deal with acronyms and improve communication at your workplace.

Challenge who ever say it

Challenge, ask, confirm what does the acronym mean. Even if you already know. Be sure you are all talking — and understanding — the same thing. This is specially important on meetings where you have people from different areas or levels of expertise.

Challenge who ever hear it

Confirm during your conversations that everybody in the group knows what the acronym that is being used really means. People will often let it slip without asking because they “an understand the context”. My old history teacher always used to say that “if you can’t explain what is it, you don’t know what it is”.

Acronym Free Day

Fun challenges at your workplace to spend a whole day — or week — without using acronyms!

Acronyms Quiz

This is a good idea for team and company events.

Acronym Glossary

Do you really needed? If so, go ahead but make sure people are aware of it, that they use it and maintain.

Are acronyms an issue where you work? How do you deal with it?