level set

Definition

To ensure everyone has the same (usually minimal) understanding of a situation before proceeding, often because previous meetings accomplished nothing.

Example Usage

Let's level set on the project timeline, since half of you think we launch in May and half think we've already launched.

Origin

Engineering terminology referring to establishing a baseline measurement

Fun Fact

The need to constantly level set is usually evidence that no one reads meeting notes or emails.

Source: Project management and engineering terminology

Related Terms

Beginner

wholesale

The art of selling massive quantities of stuff to retailers who then jack up the price and sell it to you, the sucker at the end of the chain. It's the business model that keeps Costco in business and makes you feel smart for buying 47 rolls of paper towels at once. Essentially, it's bulk selling before things get marked up for "presentation" and "convenience."

💼 Corporate / Business

Beginner

yuppy

Short for 'Young Urban Professional' or 'Young Upwardly-mobile Professional'—the 1980s archetype of ambitious twenty-somethings climbing corporate ladders in expensive suits. These were the latte-sipping, BMW-driving, cellular-phone-toting symbols of Reagan-era materialism. Today's tech bros are basically yuppies with hoodies instead of power ties.

💼 Corporate / Business

Beginner

Streamline

To make a process more efficient, usually by adding a new tool that requires three training sessions and a dedicated support team. Somehow, streamlining always results in more steps than you started with.

💼 Corporate / Business

Intermediate

nexus

A connection or link between things, people, or ideas—basically the fancy Latin way of saying 'the thing that ties it all together.' In business and law, it often refers to the relationship that determines jurisdiction or tax obligations. The intellectual's alternative to just saying 'connection.'

💼 Corporate / Business

Beginner

dna

The molecular instruction manual that makes you uniquely you, now hijacked by corporate types to describe a company's "core values" or "fundamental identity." When a CEO says "innovation is in our DNA," they're either talking about their commitment to disruption or desperately need a biology refresher. Unlike actual DNA, corporate DNA can apparently be changed with a rebrand and a consultant's PowerPoint.

💼 Corporate / Business

Intermediate

circle the wagons

Adopting a defensive posture against external threats, inspired by pioneers who probably didn't actually do this but makes corporate defensiveness sound frontier-tough.

💼 Corporate / Business

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