What is said |
What it means |
| A number of different approaches are being tried. | We don’t know where we’re going, but we’re moving. |
| An extensive report is being prepared on a fresh approach to the problem. | We just hired three guys. We’ll let them kick it around for a while. |
| Developed after years of intensive research. | It was discovered by accident. |
| Modifications are underway to correct certain minor difficulties. | We threw the whole thing out and are starting from scratch. |
| Preliminary operational tests were inconclusive. | The darn thing blew up when we threw the switch. |
| Test results were extremely gratifying. | It works and, boy, are we surprised! |
| The design will be finalized in the next reporting period. | We haven’t started this job yet, but we’ve got to say something. |
| The entire concept is unworkable. | The only guy who understood the thing just quit. |
| We need close project coordination. | We should have asked someone else. Alternate: Let’s spread the responsibility for this. |