RE: Jargon list?

["Dori Green" <dgreen -at- associatedbrands -dot- com>]

I could list the top ten finds or I could let folks enjoy their own Google
discoveries.  Today I'm also trying to get some "real work" accomplished.

Seriously, the first task I self-assign at every new job is creation of a
company glossary.  Funny thing -- the companies who never put one together
always seem to end up as the companies needing help with their
communications so they finally hire a tech writer.  Hmmmm.

The glossary saves my own sanity and I can usually convince management to
make it official after it contains a critical mass of at least 50 entries.
With fewer entries they tend to hold on to the fantasy that _they_ would
never use jargon and don't need a glossary.

The glossary here will be a year old next month.  I am still fighting the
good fight about things that are referred to by three or four different
names, and names that are used to refer to three or four different things.
Sigh.  This is not a criticism of my company; 25 years of experience have
shown this to be typical in a manufacturing environment and worse when
programmers are involved.  It's a culture change.  God bless the flexibility
of the English language.

Standardization does too improve communication, yeah it does.  That's my
story and I'm sticking to it.  Jargon is perfectly okay _as long as it is
defined so everybody can play_.

Dori Green

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