Moving Forward
by Zube (zube@stat.colostate.edu)
Created:  May  4, 2009
Updated:  Jan  8, 2013
http://www.stat.colostate.edu/~zube/movingforward.txt

A common phrase I have much experience with is "moving forward".
It's an infuriating, cowardly phrase, a suit euphemism for STFU.
Here is what it means.

"Yes, all you say is undoubtedly true or might be true if I cared
enough to think about your words, which I don't.  I may have
destroyed your house, killed your puppies, ruined your reputation
or made decisions that ultimately cost you time, money or energy,
but I'm not interested in any discussion that might reflect poorly
on me, even if such a discussion might lead to better decisions in
the future or might make me change my mind.  Now fuck off so I can
make the decision I was going to make anyway."

Many suits will also combine "moving forward" with "It is what it
is", which is supposed to sound deep, but shows only that the speaker
suffers from an acute case of tautological imbecility that is not,
sadly, fatal.

My response, from now on:

"I'm not interested in moving forward until we take the time to learn
from our mistakes.  I want to know which decisions were made that put
us where we are now, who was responsible for those decisions and how
we can avoid making similar decisions in the future.  If you aren't
interested in such things, then you aren't moving forward, you are
backing up."