When I first heard a speaker use the phrase “deep dive” last month (as in “explore in depth the topic we are discussing”), I thought his choice of words was clever; it summarized succinctly what he was doing, and even people unfamiliar with the term knew what he was talking about. “Deep dive” has actually been floating around in the consulting dictionary for years and has begun to enter the mainstream on magazine covers and TV business channels.
Last week I reviewed our consultants’ 100+-page Powerpoint presentation on industry strategy and found the overuse of the term to be irritating. The report covered a variety of topics, and after introducing each one proclaimed that it was about to deep-dive into the subject. Just tell me what you found, for crying out loud, and let me decide if you’ve covered it adequately.
My entrancement, then disenchantment, with “deep dive” is a mild example of the Feiler Faster thesis, which states that information is absorbed at such a pace that reversals of fortune (in sports, entertainment, business, politics, etc.) can occur overnight. I hope the phrase sinks into oblivion.
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