Meeting English: phrases for meetings and Slack

A specific task or responsibility that someone agrees to complete by a certain deadline, typically assigned during a meeting or discussion.

AFAIK stands for "as far as I know".

A list of topics or items to be discussed or handled in a meeting, project, or event, usually in order of priority or sequence.

Support or protection provided by a senior person or leader who backs a decision or action, often by communicating with stakeholders to…

Agreement between team members, departments, or stakeholders about goals, decisions, or the direction of a project.

A company meeting or event where everyone in the organization, or a large team, is expected to attend and participate.

AMA stands for Ask Me Anything.

ASAP stands for "as soon as possible".

Communication or work that does not require immediate, real-time responses.

An asynchronous standup is a written status update that team members post at their own time rather than gathering for a live meeting.

A workplace approach that prioritizes asynchronous communication and work processes over synchronous meetings and real-time collaboration.

To avoid directly addressing or discussing an issue, usually by speaking evasively or indirectly.

Spending excessive time debating or deciding on trivial, unimportant details while ignoring more critical decisions.

A meeting or session where a group generates ideas together without judgment, usually to solve a problem or create something new.

An informal meeting or seminar, typically held during lunch, where employees gather to learn about a specific topic from a colleague or…

A reserved time slot on your calendar that you set aside for a specific task, meeting, or focus time.

A meeting where managers align on performance ratings, expectations, or standards to ensure consistency and fairness across a team or…

To publicly point out, mention, or draw attention to something—often a problem, error, concern, or issue—in a direct way.

A callout is when you explicitly mention, highlight, or draw attention to something important—usually a problem, achievement, or key…

A structured meeting where a developer explains their code line-by-line to team members to help them understand how it works or to…

A group of people who share a common interest or work on a similar set of problems and meet regularly (formally or informally) to learn…

To identify relationships or patterns between separate pieces of information or events to understand the bigger picture or draw a…

General agreement among most or all members of a group.

Feedback that is intended to help someone improve by pointing out what they did well and what they can do better, in a respectful and…

The action of stopping work on one task or project and switching your attention to a completely different one.

Involving or requiring collaboration between multiple teams in an organization.

Uncomfortable silence during a meeting, call, or presentation when nobody is speaking.

To have a meeting or discussion after an event to analyze what happened, what went well, and what could improve.

A structured table or framework that lists options, criteria, and weighted scores to help a team objectively compare and choose between…

A presentation, typically a set of slides created in PowerPoint, Google Slides, or similar software, used to communicate ideas, data, or…

A thorough and detailed examination or analysis of a topic, issue, or problem.

A scheduled event where a startup, team, or company presents their product or project to investors, customers, or other stakeholders to…

A detailed written document that outlines the plan, architecture, and technical approach for building a new software feature or system…

A structured meeting where a team examines and critiques the overall design of a system, feature, or product before implementation.

A saying meaning that small, easily overlooked details can cause serious problems or complications.

A team whose members work in different physical locations, cities, or time zones, typically communicating through digital tools and video…

"Please do the needful" means "please do what is necessary"; it is common in Indian English emails and asks the reader to take the needed…

The practice of a company using its own product or service internally before releasing it to customers.

When you have scheduled two different meetings or commitments at the same time, making it impossible to attend both.

A short, concise explanation of your idea, product, or yourself that can be delivered in 30-60 seconds, typically to catch someone's…

To move a problem or issue to a higher level of authority, management, or priority so that someone with more power or expertise can handle…

ETA stands for "estimated time of arrival".

A brief, high-level summary of a longer document, project, or presentation that gives decision-makers the key points and conclusions…

A person who leads or guides a meeting, discussion, or workshop to help a group achieve its goals.

An informal, relaxed conversation between a leader and team members, typically covering business topics or company updates in a friendly…

To mark, highlight, or bring attention to something important—usually a problem, concern, or issue that needs to be addressed.

FYI stands for "for your information".

A quick informal assessment or review based on intuition and experience to verify if something feels right before proceeding.

A firm, non-negotiable deadline or point at which an activity must completely stop.

Being heads down means you are focused on your work and do not want meetings or interruptions for a while.

A brief advance warning or notification about something that is going to happen soon, allowing someone to prepare or be aware in advance.

A hot take is a quick, bold opinion or reaction to something, often expressed without much thought or research.

IMO stands for "in my opinion".

A dedicated communication channel (usually a chat room or Slack channel) where a team discusses and coordinates the response to a critical…

To regularly inform someone about updates or progress on a project or decision so they stay aware and involved.

The initial meeting or event that officially starts a project, product launch, or initiative.

Praise, credit, or recognition given to someone for their work or achievement.

At work, "learnings" are the lessons or insights a team takes from a project, experiment or mistake.

The process of ensuring all participants in a meeting have the same understanding of goals, context, and expectations before diving into…

LMK stands for "let me know".

To include someone in a conversation, email chain, or project by adding them so they receive updates and can contribute their input.

An informal company event where employees gather during lunch to learn about a topic from a colleague or expert.

A written record of important information, decisions, and action items discussed during a meeting.

A situation where someone has too many meetings scheduled, leaving insufficient time for focused work, deep thinking, or productive tasks.

When project requirements, deadlines, or success criteria change unexpectedly after work has already started, making it harder to complete…

A goal, requirement, or objective that continuously changes or shifts, making it difficult to reach completion or achieve success.

A decision or choice that is so obvious or easy that it requires no thinking.

Doing something immediately and without advance planning or preparation, often while something else is happening.

Making good progress toward a goal or deadline as planned; proceeding according to schedule without delays or significant problems.

A private meeting between two people, typically a manager and an employee, to discuss work progress, feedback, or personal development.

OOO stands for "out of office": you are away from work and not available, for example on vacation, sick or travelling.

To give too much weight or importance to a particular factor when making a decision or analyzing data.

To share information more frequently and in greater detail than strictly necessary to ensure everyone understands decisions, changes, and…

A strategy in meetings where you temporarily postpone discussing a topic to stay focused on the current agenda, with the intention to…

"Per my last email" means "as I said in my previous email".

PFA stands for "please find attached", a short way to tell someone in an email that you have attached a file.

To quickly reach out to someone, usually via message or chat, to get their attention or ask a quick question.

Materials provided to team members before a meeting so they can review them in advance, or the act of reading these materials beforehand…

Prepone means to move a meeting or event to an earlier time; it is the opposite of postpone and is used mainly in Indian English.

A management approach where you give honest, direct feedback to colleagues while genuinely caring about their well-being and success.

To understand and respond appropriately to the mood, emotions, and attitudes of the people in a conversation or meeting.

To understand the hidden or implied meaning in what someone says or writes, rather than just the obvious or stated meaning.

A warning sign or indicator that something might be problematic, risky, or wrong.

A systematic process of investigating a problem or failure to find the deepest reason why it occurred, rather than just treating the…

A method where people take turns in a fixed order, rotating through a cycle.

A debugging technique where you explain your code line-by-line to an inanimate object (traditionally a rubber duck) to identify bugs and…

The act of displaying your computer screen to other people during a video call or meeting so they can see what you are working on.

A public recognition or acknowledgment of someone's contribution or achievement in a meeting or communication.

An informal session or meeting where team members present their recent work, projects, or discoveries to colleagues and invite questions…

A silo is a situation where teams, departments, or parts of an organization work independently without sharing information or…

A one-on-one meeting between an employee and someone two or more levels above them in the organizational hierarchy, typically bypassing…

To share an idea, plan, or decision with relevant people informally before it becomes official, to gather feedback and build support.

A stakeholder is any person or group who is affected by or has an interest in a project, decision, or product.

A short daily meeting where team members briefly share what they did yesterday, what they plan to do today, and any problems blocking them.

A retrospective or feedback technique with three categories: actions to start doing, actions to stop doing, and actions to continue doing.

A brief report that informs others about the current progress, condition, or state of a project, task, or system.

To bring up or reveal information, issues, or ideas that were previously hidden, unknown, or not discussed.

A synchronous meeting where team members join at the same time to discuss urgent issues, align on priorities, or solve problems in…

To coordinate or align data, actions, or plans between multiple people, teams, or systems.

To postpone or set aside discussion of a topic so it can be addressed later.

To pause and reconsider something from a broader perspective instead of focusing on small details.

"Take it offline" means to continue a discussion later, outside the current meeting, usually with fewer people.

Key messages, arguments, or topics that you plan to discuss or emphasize in a meeting, presentation, or conversation.

To collaborate or work together as a team.

An informal conversation or discussion among technical professionals about technical problems, solutions, or implementation details.

A detailed document that describes the requirements, design, and implementation details of a software system or feature.

A quick informal check to see how people feel about something, understand current sentiment, or gauge agreement before moving forward with…

A structured conversation where replies are organized in a nested or connected format, keeping related messages grouped together so…

A fixed period of time allocated for completing a specific task or discussion.

TL;DR stands for "too long; didn't read".

A communication or management style where decisions, requirements, or information flow from higher levels of authority downward to junior…

A large, open company meeting where leadership shares updates, announcements, and strategy with all employees, often followed by a…

A question asked by an employee during a town hall meeting, typically directed at company leadership or executives to discuss business…

To fail to share enough information, details, or updates with team members, often leading to confusion, missed deadlines, or poor…

A detailed explanation or guided demonstration of how something works, step by step.

A large white surface used for writing or drawing with markers, commonly used in tech meetings to visualize ideas, architecture, and…

A temporary group of people from different departments or teams who work together on a specific project or problem for a limited time.

A written document or report that summarizes information, findings, or conclusions about a project, meeting, incident, or technical topic.

Yak shaving is the act of doing a series of seemingly unrelated tasks before you can complete the main task you actually want to do.

The tiredness, stress, and mental exhaustion that people feel after spending long periods in video conference meetings, especially on…