Corporate Vocabulary Field Guide

What “Drink from the Firehose” Actually Means

To absorb a huge amount of information at once, typically during onboarding or crisis.

What it actually means
We did not plan onboarding so we're calling overwhelm a feature.
Surface meaning: To absorb a huge amount of information at once, typically during onboarding or crisis.
If someone just said “Drink from the Firehose” in a meeting, here is what they probably meant, what to do about it, and how to keep your sanity.
In the wild
Manager (week 1): It's a lot. You're drinking from the firehose. (Week 4: still no docs.)
How to respond

Build a 1-page index in your first week. The firehose is the org's bug, not your feature.

Origin

Attributed to Jerry Sussman at MIT in the 1980s. Survived because no org has gotten better at onboarding.

FAQ
What does "Drink from the Firehose" actually mean?
We did not plan onboarding so we're calling overwhelm a feature.
Where did the phrase "Drink from the Firehose" come from?
Attributed to Jerry Sussman at MIT in the 1980s. Survived because no org has gotten better at onboarding.
How should I respond when someone says "Drink from the Firehose"?
Build a 1-page index in your first week. The firehose is the org's bug, not your feature.
Related corporate vocabulary
Cadence→Bandwidth→Cycles→Deep Dive→Action Item→
Next in the glossary
Eat Your Own Dog Food→Table This→Parking Lot→

The email version of this phrase is in your inbox right now.

The Email Relevance Checker tells you whether that thread ever needed you on it.

Open the Email Relevance Checker →
Copied