Where does tech jargon - or technobabble - come from, as Ben Worthen asks in his WSJ post, Where Tech Jargon Comes From: An Insider’s View.
I have some theories:
Geek chic – The IT industry has its roots in science; on day one those in IT were indistinguishable from scientists. Subsequent advances in technology have, in effect, dumbed-down the skills required to be a technologist. Despite that, they have retained the ‘scientist’ mindset and so display many of the associated traits. Communicating effectively with lesser intellects (i.e. users) unfortunately is not one of them. To the outside world the IT department can seem like an exclusive club, where users are not welcome. The feral nature of some technologists can lead to pack behavior, which results in younger techies mimicking the behavior of the ‘alpha technologist.’ So the ability to confuse users is passed down from generation to generation.
Tensions – Tensions between the IT department and users underpin the evolution of the IT industry. In essence there is an ongoing dispute over who controls the IT assets. It’s much like a restaurant where the customers (users) are constantly vying to bring in their own food and cooking equipment, and the staff (IT department) are insistent that all the cooking is done in the kitchen using restaurant produce. This leads to mutual suspicion and ultimately a breakdown in trust. Some technologists will use jargon as a form of verbal chaff to confuse and disorient the users -- a technique that gives the technologist a sense of power over their ‘adversaries.’
Emotional Intelligence – Traditionally, IT people generally have high IQs. Anyone who has ever argued with a techie will have felt the full brunt of their logic. But sometimes it is not smart to be right. Management consultants generally recognize the wisdom in not alerting the client to the fact that he is an idiot or one’s partner that she should lose some weight. Many technologists fail to understand this perspective. As well as being a little too direct at times, the problem manifests itself through a lack of empathy or emotional intelligence. Such technologists happily talk to users as if they are also technologists and so make no allowance for the fact that they do not understand technical jargon. The lack of an empathy gene leads to jargon-rich communications from the IT department.
Technology vendors – The battles raging in the IT industry are often literally a war of words. If one technology company can be seen to be associated with a given buzzword then this makes subsequent marketing easier. Hence the marketing departments of many technology vendors spew out new terminology in the hope that some of it will stick to the market. This often results in technologists confusing each other, sometimes by accident and sometimes to assert the techno-pack pecking order. An overall lack of standards in the IT industry in respect of terminology has led to many synonyms and homonyms. This increases miscommunication both within and across the IT department sand bags.
Perhaps this is where industry regulatory efforts should be focused?
What are your experiences with technobabble?
