The Engineer's Dictionary
Major Technological
Breakthrough...
...Back to the drawing board.
Developed after
years of intensive research...
...It was discovered by accident.
Project slightly behind original schedule due to
unforseen difficulties...
...We are working on something else now.
The designs are well within allowable limits...
...We just made it, stretching a point or two.
Customer satisfaction is believed assured...
...We are so far behind schedule that the customer
was happy to get
anything at all from us.
Close project coordination...
...We should have asked someone else; or
...Let's spread the responsibility for this.
The design will be finalized in the next reporting
period...
...We haven't started this job yet, but we've got to
say something.
A number of
different approaches are being tried...
...We don't know where we're going, but we're
moving!
Test results were
extremely gratifying...
...It works and we're surprised!
Extensive effort is
being applied on a fresh approach to the problem...
...We just hired three new guys, we'll let them kick it around
for a while.
Preliminary
operational tests are inconclusive...
...The darn thing blew up when we threw the switch.
The entire concept
will have to be abandoned...
...The only guy who understood the thing quit.
Modifications are
underway to correct certain minor difficulties...
...We threw the whole thing out and are starting from scratch.