The Importance of Words

Communication is always a challenge. Things can always get lost in interpretation, and sometimes I find it helpful to look at where the words and phrases came from, and how we use them to provide clarity. Sometimes, though, I find people are just a bit careless with the language they use, and all sorts of problems can arise from that.

In the software industry, though, I find we are particularly careless with our language in general. There’s certain words and phrases that we’re pretty used to hearing thrown around in this industry, but our understanding of them can vary from person to person, and often times aren’t quite helpful. The ambiguity this creates seems to confirm biases for some and furthers agendas that also aren’t so helpful.

You might read that and say:

“Yes I see that all the time. But I’m always careful with the language I use.”

But I’d like to challenge that. Because I too thought of myself as exceptionally careful with the words I used. But I’ve learned that I’ve been just as guilty as most.

“Guilty” here is a good example. It implies I’ve done something wrong, and am responsible for it. But it also implies I should feel bad about having done it, and possibly should be punished.

Should I be punished for that carelessness? Maybe. Maybe not. I’d argue, though, that I already have.

Do I feel guilty? To some degree, yes.

Is this feeling diminished because other people are doing it as well? Again, yes, to an extent.

But does the carelessness of others give me license to continue being careless I myself? Absolutely not. It means I have to be extra careful.

Much of the language in our industry has taken on a life of its own, as language tends to do. I don’t believe we can do anything to stop this, but I also don’t believe we shouldn’t do anything about it.

These words and phrases came about to help us talk about important things, but have since drifted so far away from their original intent that they don’t offer us much value anymore. In fact, the way much of that language is used now, I would argue is quite harmful, often because much of it is used to hide what it originally meant to reveal. Even with a common understanding of these sometimes backwards definitions, it just allows us to collectively be blind to those problems.

To address this, I’m starting a series of posts to help expose these words and phrases, and hopefully help us regain the understanding of the intent behind them, and for some, provide what I feel are more helpful definitions. Hopefully in doing so, we can start focusing on the real problems we need to see.

First up will be an easy target:

Quality

TL; DR: We like to think that we’re careful with the language we use. But I don’t believe we are. The common vernacular of our trade has been corrupted, and I believe is leading us down the wrong path. More posts will be coming soon, each one tackling related words and phrases we commonly use in this industry, exposing what they really mean, and the harm that comes from the way many of us use them.

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