My manager uses technical terms incorrectly all the time, how do I correct them? - uptownfunk
======
mindcrime
Don't. You have absolutely nothing to gain from this. Well, nothing that has
any real value anyway... maybe some "sense of self satisfaction" or something.
But that won't buy you a cup of coffee at Sheetz. OTOH, it could put you on
the "short list" next time layoffs roll around, or even get you canned more or
less immediately, especially in a "right to work" state.

Seriously, don't risk embarrassing your boss. If it's that big a deal to you,
quit, and find a job somewhere else with a better boss.

As the old saying goes "What an interesting game. The only winning move is not
to play".

~~~
ceedan
This advice is conflicted

1) Don't let your boss know, because it could threaten your job.

2) If it's that big of a deal to you, quit and find a new job.

What?

If you really can't get over the fact that your boss is using terms
incorrectly, send them a polite email. If you're not on close terms, just get
over it.

~~~
mindcrime
Getting fired, unceremoniously, and at a point in time you don't control, is
quite a different thing from a planned exit where you already have your new
position lined up and waiting. I propose that "correcting" your boss is likely
to lead to the former, which is bad, and that - IF one cares so much about
this point - it is better to just go ahead and start planning the latter.

Edit: I should perhaps have been more explicit in saying that I meant "start
looking for a new job so you can quit" as opposed to "rage quit on the spot".

------
staunch
A lesson Marcus Aurelius learned: _" From Alexander the grammarian, to refrain
from fault-finding, and not in a reproachful way to chide those who uttered
any barbarous or solecistic or strange-sounding expression; but dexterously to
introduce the very expression which ought to have been used, and in the way of
answer or giving confirmation, or joining in an inquiry about the thing
itself, not about the word, or by some other fit suggestion."_

[http://classics.mit.edu/Antoninus/meditations.1.one.html](http://classics.mit.edu/Antoninus/meditations.1.one.html)

------
muzani
Actual conversation interrupting someone in a meeting:

Me: "Wait, hold on, when we are talking about Agile, do you mean Scrum? Like
the one with weekly sprints?"

Boss: "What's a sprint? I mean those guys who handle the AWS and servers and
backups."

Me: "Ohh, so you meant DevOps?"

Boss: "Yeah, that's the word."

Me: "Ohh... I used to confuse those words a lot too."

Just be polite, don't make them feel embarrassed. Take a neutral tone. Do it
for clarification, not because it hurts your ears.

~~~
saltedmd5
_Refrains from pointing out misuse of the term "DevOps"._

~~~
muzani
It's an exercise for the reader ;)

------
EnderMB
It's more of a person-to-person thing, and not really something we can offer
much advice on, as we don't know your personality, or your bosses.

A few years ago I had a manager that would claim that we did BDD all the time
because we wrote user stories. We did no unit testing of any kind, and it put
us in hot water with a potential client when they asked to see our BDD
framework. I had tried to tell him on a number of occasions that there was
more to BDD than writing user stories, but he never stopped, and it made the
company look a bit silly. It wasn't a personal thing as we got on really well,
and he relied on me a lot for support, so not sure why he didn't take the
correction on board.

All you can do is privately tell them that the term is incorrect. If they
continue to use them incorrectly then that's their problem.

------
stephenr
Does s/he have a technical or business background?

I once corrected my manager when I was contracting at an Australian ISP. It
was something about browser cookies I think. As soon as I told him he's wrong,
(we were in a pretty open-plan albeit half empty office) he just stopped
talking, turned his chair around and went back to work.

I asked him if he had things for me to do for 3 days always with responses of
just "no", before I contacted by contract manager (affectionately referred to
as "pimps" in Australian contracting) and explained the situation.

Later that day the manager turns to me and says I did the wrong thing by
talking to my pimp - I should have talked to him directly instead. The irony
was lost on him I think.

Anyway. I'd still do the same thing in that situation (technical discussion
that affects work).

But if a guy who doesn't actually do the technical work insists on saying
"depreciated" instead of "deprecated" or "jdk" instead of jvm, but others know
what he meant, it's probably harmless.

------
Nomentatus
If you're really hell-bent on doing something, ask HIS boss how to correct
him. (Have a list of specific real examples memorized.) Do this mostly just to
be sure this boss gets the message that he's being snowed. Chances are good
your boss is spewing terminology to impress this person, who doesn't know he's
being shat on. But have a resume prepared even if you go for this indirect
approach.

------
jklein11
I used to correct people when I thought they were using the wrong terms. I
realized 99% of the time I was achieving two things, derailing the
conversation, and making myself look like an arrogant jerk.

It turns out in tech people use the same jargon in different ways. If I'm able
to understand what they are saying, that is the important part and I just move
on. If I'm not quite sure how to interpret what they are saying, I'll try to
clarify.

If its a pretty glaring mistake, and you really feel the need to correct the
mistake, muzani's script is pretty good. You could even go with "Oh, I've
heard that called xyz before."

If someone wants to replace the word DevOps with Agile, I say why not. At the
end of the day the bits and bytes don't give a damn what they are called.

------
ineedasername
Ah, a common problem, though long since covered through extensive case studies
via BOFH. The earlier works seem most generally applicable ;)

[https://www.theregister.co.uk/data_centre/bofh/](https://www.theregister.co.uk/data_centre/bofh/)

~~~
mindcrime
_The earlier works seem most generally applicable_

I dunno... they are back to killing the Boss about every other episode or so
here lately, from what I can remember. Or maybe it was Consultants they were
killing off. Or Salespeople...

------
lsiebert
The purpose of language is to communicate. If they use the wrong terms and
communicate, it's not an issue. If they use the wrong terms and
miscommunicate, that is an issue.

If they are miscommunicating, you can always ask them what they mean when they
use the term, and say it's because you want to make sure you understand what
they are saying, and you've heard the term used in a different context and
want to make sure you and they are on the same page.

------
SeaDude
First, make sure YOU know the definitions WITHOUT looking them up.

Try asking clarifying questions to push your manager to expand their
understanding. Some ideas are: "What do you mean by X in that context?" "Thats
interesting, how does that work exactly?" "I've heard of x used as y, how
would it be used in your example?"

Go rogue and publish a glossary of techncial terms with public references and
post it up in your office.

Clarity is key. If your manager is using terms incorrectly, they are likely
confusing others on the team or representing the team inconsistently. In the
end they need to get their skills up, get more info, or get out of the way.
IMHO.

------
tixocloud
This depends on your relationship with your manager and your reasons for
wanting to correct him/her.

If you are close with your manager, have a chat with him/her in private and
let them know politely what the correct terms are without offending them. If
you're sincere and genuinely concerned about your boss, he/she will be
thankful. The tone and intent of delivery counts.

If you're just looking to correct him/her because you feel you are
smarter/better than him/her, it would be better not to. Not everyone is
perfect.

------
andrei_says_
Create rapport and trust. Then proceed to bring up some of the terms, in
private, along with some reference supporting the correct use. Frame it as
something you noticed he mentioned and wondered about so you looked it up.
Never frame as right or wrong.

Proceed with steps beyond #1 only when you have enough trust and rapport.
Never correct in public.

------
nanis
I remember a certain someone who used to talk constantly about "flat plate"
monitors when LCDs were becoming affordable. Did not take correction attempts
very well.

------
CyberFonic
Correcting managers can be a career limiting move. Do you really need to?

You could take solace from Dilbert. every workplace seems to have one or more
PHBs.

------
gregmorton
Maybe a neutral, technical and anonymous email could do the trick. :)

