Let's repeat the phrases we must forget

Here's a list of annoying phrases published by Betty Lui - I love it. I do get annoyed by 70% of those. And I do use about 20% of those myself (to be honest). I want to tell you some other annoying phrases that i often hear.

We were too early

Sure, it must feel comforting to say this. We failed because we were too smart for the rest of the world. The market was not ready. The supporting technologies were not ready. I suggest different phrasing:

• We did design mistakes
• Lack of supporting technologies made our product useless
• We were not persistent
• We did not dare to take it the whole way

I am not shooting down the innovations there but sometimes we need to be more humble about the reasons our great ideas fail.

How much do you think Elin learned about Communicating Embedded Systems after reading this book?
We were probably slightly too early...

It's a good start

Yes, i have a tendency of scanning for a negative hidden message in everything. And this one does sound negative to me when it's given.  Don't wrap negative messages into something that sounds more positive - put it like this instead:

• You have not reached that far
• This is junk

But maybe it's too much to ask from Swedes and Americans. Negative feedback is not a strong side of these nationalities in general.

Source of the pictures: What does "It's a good start" actually mean

See it as a good experience

Sure, experiences are good in general. And when we have to go through something that hurts/annoys/irritates we learn something and come out stronger. But i don't ever want to hear this phrase from those who actually cause this experience, especially when the outcome it known a-priori.

Source: http://www.lovethispic.com/image/95103/what-doesn%27t-kill-you-makes-you-stronger