April 24, 2007
Pause to consider your word choice, please
Choosing words wisely is just one way to make sure you are understood in a conversation. As a professional communicator, I'm often confronted with words used out of context or in place of other, more applicable and appropriate descriptors.
Case in point: "bandwidth"
The word bandwidth is often used in information technology circles as a geeky of saying "we do not have enough capacity, in either people or resources, to accomplish what you need done." It's often casually spat out like this:
"Bill? Steve here. That project you need done? No bandwidth here. None. Until we free up some things, we'll not be able to get to it."
Now, I'm not standing in the way of linguistic evolution, but in my mind, this is laziness, not evolution. According to Merriam Webster at www.m-w.com, bandwidth is defined as:
Main Entry: band·width
Pronunciation: 'band-"width
Function: noun
1 : a range within a band of wavelengths, frequencies, or energies; especially : a range of radio frequencies which is occupied by a modulated carrier wave, which is assigned to a service, or over which a device can operate
2 : the capacity for data transfer of an electronic communications system (graphics consume more bandwidth than text does); especially : the maximum data transfer rate of such a system (a bandwidth of 56 kilobits per second)
Yes, I can see why people take the second definition to make reference to organizational throughput, but I take issue with the fact that it would be just as easy to say, "with our current resources we are unable to do that. With additional resources, or perhaps with a reprioritization of our existing workload, we might be able to do it." In this, there is no sloughing off the request with technobabble; it's a straightforward answer with a suggestion for how to remedy the situation.
I'll stop off the soapbox now, but I'll be on the lookout for jargon.
Posted by MEK at April 24, 2007 10:35 AM