Everyday Office Jargon · Vice President level

"Mission critical"

"Mission critical" means absolutely essential to the functioning or survival of a project, system, or organization, where failure would cause serious harm.

Say this instead: essential

How "Mission critical" shows up at work

Borrowed from aerospace, where it was precise and literal. In office use it is applied to a wide range of things, from server uptime to quarterly decks, which dilutes the urgency. If everything is mission critical, the phrase has done its job too well.

Buzzword

The data pipeline is mission critical and needs to be back up by noon.

Plain English

The data pipeline is essential and needs to be back up by noon.

Corporate Rank: Vice President · Category: Everyday Office Jargon

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