Rich_Words …for love, life and leadership.
Welcome!
A TLA is a thing that can really annoy people. A three letter acronym, used instead of the actual words, to save time and confuse people who don’t have the necessary technical awareness.
When being trained, back in the Middle Ages, my class mates and I, at Uni, would play bingo with TLAs to see who could get the set first. JDI, TOC, KPI, OEM, OTD, OEE …house!
And then there was ASAP. One of the first FLAs, or four letter acronyms. Joined quickly by OTIF and PBIT.
I know, you’re loving this piece …or YLTP, as I’m never going to say.
ASAP, or as soon as possible, has transcended the acronym status to almost become a word in it’s own right. It survived the demise of WYSIWYG and forged a career as a useful way of asking for something promptly, without bothering to go into any detail about what was actually required.
I had a Boss once who used to ask for everything ASAP.
One day he collared me for not getting a report to him in time for the Board meeting and when I told him I would do it ASAP, in about three weeks, he was not pleased. I explained to him that I was genuinely busy and that three weeks was a fair lead-time for the work he had asked for. He was visibly annoyed and became more so when I pointed out that I had repeatedly asked him for a sensible date for delivery, as I had a pile of other work from him that was also all required ASAP.
This is the problem with ASAP – it is meaningless. What it does mean is that the person using it has poor time management, or poor thinking skills, or both, because they haven’t the wit to be clear and precise with their instructions.
Being clear and precise is a basic tenet of leadership …and you don’t need to be a leader to be involved with leadership – any colleague asking another colleague for something is a leader in that precise moment of asking. As an exercise; ask your life partner for something and make it ASAP. See how they respond …hmmm… maybe not.
ASAP is not a word to hug and hold close. It is an annoying and misleading and unhelpful pile of letters that serves no purpose, other than to disrupt smooth organisational processes. And to annoy life partners.
ASAP? No. Just tell me what you want please.
Have fun not using it!
Keep well.
PS. I know you’re wondering so here they are. Just Do It. Theory of Constraints. Key Performance Indicator. Original Equipment Manufacturer. On Time Delivery. Operating Equipment Effectiveness. Also… On Time In Full and Profit Before Interest and Tax …and What You See Is What You Get.