"Parking Lot" at workplace meetings? It's the new "cohort"

[underpants]

So I started a new position a few weeks ago. Same organization just a different department.

I've been in two meetings other than regular staff meetings and in both the person running the meeting has said, "We're going to put that in the 'parking lot,". Meaning an issue came up that will be discussed or dealt with later. The first time I heard it I thought it was strange and then I heard it again yesterday. My wife (in a more corporate world) says she's never heard that one.

In both departments I've heard "cohort" used a lot recently. Yes the use is in keeping with the definition but until about a year and half ago I don't know that I've ever heard "cohort".

Maybe it just me.

[empedocles]

1. Putting something on the 'backburner' was a pretty tired usage. Parking lot, eh?

[hlthe2b]

2. Addressing workplace jargon is always my biggest challenge...

to not reflexively roll my eyes. And if you work in an interdisciplinary context, one is always bombarded by earnest returnees from whatever conference-- eager to add more. Sometimes it is so ridiculous (with acronyms being used verbally that are longer to pronounce than the terms they define) I almost feel like I'm having an out-of-body experience trying my damndest not to laugh.

But, best to record it all in your journal for a future memoir. One doesn't dare assume other workers won't share your disdain voiced in confidence.

[rurallib]

7. Back in my working days I dared ask one of my bosses -

who loved to use the latest "in" jargon - why he didn't state what he meant in plain English so we could all understand it. I was quite frustrated.

I was dealt with privately shall we say.

[underpants]

15. Acronyms

My last Department was so heavy into acronyms I had a two page summary hanging on my cubicle wall. These pages were from the annual report. I added to it as I heard new ones.

I went to a planning meeting about a conference. As we went around introducing ourselves the acronyms were flying around like water in a fountain. It was like another language. I laughed a little and told myself “Don’t waste energy trying to figure these out. It will come with time. “

[Generic Brad]

3. It's not just you

For the past three years my daughter has been saying "cohort" more than she says "literally". I have not heard "parking lot" yet. Where I work everyone instead changes subjects and declare "pivot".

[Prue]

6. Pivot - I love it. I'm going to steal that one. n/t

[Prue]

4. Doesn't fit or Doesn't matter

Many meetings or strategic planning sessions I've participated in where the term "parking lot" is used is a way for leadership to acknowledge the contribution without saying to the person that the topic has no value related to the issue(s) being discussed or it doesn't fit at that juncture of the discussion but it may down the road. It's rare that they actually "drive" it out of the "parking lot".

I've never heard the term "cohort" used in my profession or at my Agency.

[underpants]

14. I hadn't considered that

This meeting, I thought, was about a policy of our specific part of the operation but turned out it was about work out “in the field”. Those people are out standing in their field. 😀

[Walleye]

5. When did we go from "on the brink" to "on the cusp"?

[Sherman A1]

8. I am so happy to be retired and not having to deal with the corporate speak

It was really starting to get mind numbing when I left about 3 years ago and if you didn’t play their little word games you were just old and had a bad attitude.

[klook]

9. I first heard that usage in about 1998, believe it or not.

I'd just started a new job, and at the first meeting somebody had a flip-chart of "parking lot issues." My first thought was, "Ah, so these are things we'll go outside to hammer out in a less formal setting. Nice! I think I'm gonna like this place."

[onethatcares]

10. all that sounds just

"perfect"

gaud I can't stand to hear that term

I'm semi retired and have my own little business so I win any discussions I have in meetings with myself.

[2naSalit]

11. I started hearing them years ago...

along with those voices in my head!

Just kidding. I started hearing "parking lot" about five years ago while I was still in the working world. I started hearing "cohort" a long time ago and use it myself, though not often.

[JDC]

12. Parking lot's been around a while. Just wait til they start calling your meetings huddles

The one I've heard recently - which I hate - is "let's double click on (fill in the blank)" - meaning let's look deeper into something.

[MissB]

21. Yeah. Huddles.

Our section has three distinct groups. My group- techie folks/engineers- were the only ones to outright refuse doing the huddles when they became popular a few years back. We just didn’t see the point.

Parking lot has been a thing too. I actually used those words in an email last week.

Haven’t heard the double click. Maybe I’ll try it out soon.

[importDavid]

13. We've done that at work for years now.

During our morning daily "stand-up" scrum each team member says what they did yesterday, what they plan to do today and if there are any obstacles in the way.

If there's any extraneous issue that can't be covered in the 90 seconds or so allocated to each team member then it's written on the "Parking Lot" on the whiteboard and discussed immediately after the scrum round-table is over.

[Doc_Technical]

16. Every profession has its own terminology

[Aristus]

17. One particularly irritating managerial phrase: "My ask of you is..."

[underpants]

18. Haven't heard that one

[ploppy]

19. All that lingo is so nauseating to me.

When someone says "put it in the parking lot" I hear "stick it - it's not important."
When someone says "my ask is" I hear "I don't speak English very well even though it's my only language".
Oh and cohort! That's just someone trying to talk fancy.
I am retiring in October and counting every day!!!

[Totally Tunsie]

20. Thank God I'm done with all this crap!

I love retirement.

[Laffy Kat]

22. I can always tell when management hires a new MBA.

You start hearing new catchphrases and words. After that, new applications are introduced for this or that--none that work as well as what they are replacing. Big salaries, no idea what they are doing, all hat no cattle. Those of us who actually do the work are polite to them out of necessity, but roll our eyes and joke about them behind their backs. That's just how it is.

[Skittles]

23. I've never heard that

I do remember being at a meeting at a new job and not understanding half the acronyms. Not to worry though, I DID learn them all very quickly.