Avoiding organizational jargon

Words in UX can trip over themselves when they lean too hard on the wrong crowd. Organizational jargon—those cozy, insider terms—feels natural to the team building the product. But users don’t live in that world. They can't decode it so they ditch it. Being entrenched in an organization can result in blind spots.

The team knows a “database error” means the system choked. To them, it’s precise. To users, it’s a brick wall—cold, cryptic, useless. Swap it for “We couldn’t save your changes.” Same issue, but in a human voice. One alienates; the other explains. Users don’t need the gears exposed—they need to know what broke and what’s next.

This happens everywhere. A dashboard might flaunt “synced endpoints” because engineers nod at it. Users blink, lost. Call it “connected devices” instead, and clarity lands. Jargon isn’t wrong—it’s aimed at the wrong room. The fix isn’t dumbing down; it’s tuning in. Speak the user’s language, not the org chart’s.

Step back to see it. Teams swim in their shorthand—meetings, Slack threads, specs—and it seeps into the work.

Rooting it out takes effort. Scan every label, error, and prompt. Ask: Would this make sense to someone who doesn’t clock in here?