Some phrases overstay their welcome. And some start to smell. 🍌

“Low-hanging fruit” hit that point for me during the Certified Scrum Developer course I just took (taught by my mom, Judy Neher—more on that here). Somewhere between a discussion on value-driven development and a sticky-note exercise, I realized:

I never want to say “low-hanging fruit” again. Because sometimes? It’s already rotting.

🧃 Why I dropped it

“Low-hanging fruit” is supposed to mean “easy wins.” But in practice? It can mean:

• Work we haven’t thought through yet
• A shortcut that skips long-term value
• The easiest thing to do, not the right thing to do

It became clear that chasing low-hanging fruit often left teams feeling rushed, fragmented, or worse—disconnected from the “why” behind the work.

🗑️ Other phrases I’ve retired

Here’s a short list of terms I’ve quietly (and not-so-quietly) yeeted from my dev vocab:

🤖 “Resources” (when you mean people)

Nope. Hard pass. Just say humans, team members, people, peers, devs. Please.

🏃 “Quick win”

Often just a “quick distraction.” Not always worth the whiplash. I’d rather aim for deliberate progress.

🧱 “Best practices”

Helpful sometimes—but rarely best. More like: “widely adopted starting point, subject to context.” Doesn’t roll off the tongue, but it’s more honest.

🎸 “Rockstar / ninja”

If your hiring post says this, I’m already backing away slowly. It implies hero culture, ego, and unsustainable work expectations. Also… we have a team for a reason?

💥 “Fail fast”

Okay, okay, hear me out. I like the spirit of this one. But it’s so often used as a license to skip critical thinking, empathy, or safety nets. I’m now in the “learn fast” or “experiment safely” camp.

🪴 What I say instead

It’s not just about removing words—it’s about replacing them with language that fosters clarity, care, and connection. So I’ve been trying out:

• “Small, valuable slice”
• “What’s the next right thing?”
• “A practice that’s serving us right now”
• “Teammate, dev, contributor, person who codes things beautifully”

(Okay, maybe not that last one. But I’ve thought it.)

🧠 Language shapes culture

If your team is feeling burned out, misunderstood, or like you’re talking past each other… maybe it’s time for a little vocab detox.

I’m not saying you need to ban buzzwords. I’m just saying that the words we use matter. And sometimes, we outgrow them.

So here’s to choosing better ones.

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What phrases have you retired lately? Drop me an email or a DM on LinkedIn—or shout them into a Slack channel near you. 🧹🧼