a metaphorical and dimensionless measure of the confusion, ambiguity, or lack of information that characterizes a situation, as in “All the turmoil in the markets means we’ll have a really high fog index around our sales projections”; this jargon superficially resembles a meteorological term but has no real source in that discipline; also evokes the more well-known concept of the “fog of war”; used when the speaker wants to sound technical or sophisticated; see also black box, which similarly hints at bafflement, and a lot of moving parts, which emphasizes complexity

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a phrase describing an action that must be executed quickly and accurately in the face of circumstances that cannot be forestalled; generally used in extremis, as in “Our competitor is releasing next week so we have no choice but to launch the software and patch with live updates based on customer feedback, we’re going to have to lay tracks in front of a moving train; this approach risks spectacular failure if not impeccably managed, evoking the pileup of derailing train cars, but is necessary when there is insufficient time for a more deliberate approach

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an assertion or imperative cloaked in the guise of an innocuous question, thus allowing a speaker to soften the impact of his actual statement, as in “Will you launch the product next Tuesday after I submit the approvals we discussed?”; the word is a deliberately ungainly portmanteau of both the ‘question’ and ‘statement’ components; its quirkiness makes it suitable for lighthearted use in acknowledging the underlying message communicated by the supposed question

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a term from finance that is misused to indicate variance, as in “There shouldn’t be much beta on that product’s month-to-month sales”; this is subtly but significantly incorrect, as beta is technically a measure of covariance, showing how an asset’s price is expected to fluctuate in relation to a broader market index; using this term is a way to sound sophisticated in lieu of clarity, as is the case with much jargon re-purposed from one industry for use in a general business context, such as titrate, torqued, and optics

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an achievement that requires minor effort to complete and results in benefits that are usually small yet still meaningful, as in “For Phase 1 of the project let’s make sure we focus on quick wins, we need to prove the concept has traction”; quick wins can be useful for demonstrating progress or building momentum as part of larger, more complex initiatives, providing the financial resources or morale boost that sustain the more difficult elements of work; related to ring the cash register, which is what happens as you tally up quick wins; contrast with tough putt, heavy lift, and tough row to hoe

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operating in a less glamorous or aggressive way, focused on fundamentals and aiming at steady, methodical progress instead of flashier goals, as in “I know this new sales strategy sounds like small ball, but that’s how we win in the cloud software space”; the concept derives from the so-named strategy in the sport of baseball, in which a team seeks to win by grinding out runs through careful batting and patience rather than riskier extra base hits; also used in basketball, where the traditionally desirable tall and powerful lineup is replaced with speedier perimeter players who have greater ability to shoot from across the court, leading to fewer thunderous, crowd-pleasing slam dunks but more routine, efficient scoring

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to use a purportedly neutral moderation role to deftly steer a process to some desired outcome, thus combining facilitation with manipulation, as in “That was some masterful facipulation in the strategy workshop, he knew exactly where the brainstorming would end up”; the clunky nature of this mashed-up term means its usage is always tinged with humor; the line between such behavior and skillfully guiding a free-flowing conversation to a productive outcome is not always obvious, so characterizing another’s actions in this way may depend on how far the result diverged from one’s own inclinations

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to raise concerns in dramatic fashion in hopes of averting significant negative outcomes, as in “Our donor metrics have all been trending down for the past four quarters and management just isn’t getting it, we need to pull the fire alarm”; refers to actions or communications that will quickly get attention, especially that of one’s superiors or other decision-makers; doing so may include a desire to mitigate personal fallout by calling attention to problems before they have fully actualized, deflecting responsibility when things blow up; a milder variant is raise your hand, which suggests the decorousness of a student politely attracting the teacher’s regard without creating a ruckus; as with the literal example underpinning this phrase, it is always preferable to sound the alarm early, before the fire leaves only smoldering ruins

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a high-level estimate intended to be a reasonable approximation upon which decisions or further work can be based, drawing on the notion that a grenade need only be in the vicinity of its intended target to be effective, given its blast radius; this jargon has playful, martial undertones and is likely to be heard when rapidly grasping the quantitative contours of the situation is more important than precision; similar to t-shirt sizing, a similar concept used for rough categorization; the folk saying “close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades” has the opposite sense, and is said when an exact target must be reached for an achievement to be meaningful; see also crayon analysis

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a condition in which modifications remain possible, as with cement that has yet to fully harden; used to indicate flexibility or the opportunity to provide substantial input, as in “We can still change the report structure if we need to, the outline is wet cement”; can presumably be modified to “hard cement” when such changes are no longer feasible; has the opposite sense of baked or crisp, which reference work that has been satisfactorily finalized; see also cement is dry

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