Guide 200 / 200 4 alternatives 2-minute read

Better ways to say “boil the ocean”

Consultant shorthand for attempting an impossibly broad task.

i · Why avoid itTwo lines, no filler

Attributed to Will Rogers, who quipped that to fight German submarines the Allies should boil the ocean. Became management jargon in the 1980s. Useful imagery, but in serious planning "overscoped" or "too broad" say it plainly.

ii · Before & afterDrop-in demo

Before

Let's not boil the ocean on the first release.

After

Keep the first release narrow — three features, not thirty.

iii · The alternatives4 ways out

01

Overscope neutral

name the risk

Let's not overscope the first release.
02

Try to do too much neutral

plain description

Let's not try to do too much at once.
03

Start narrow neutral

positive framing

Start narrow with three features.
04

Bite off more than we can chew informal

cliché pair

Let's not bite off more than we can chew.

iv · Brew tipKeep this one

Saying "don't boil the ocean" is clearer in twelve fewer syllables: "stay narrow."