Street voices
Álvaro
·
United States
"yeah we use this expression when the boss is very mad at us and says hey you need to finish this right away tomorrow is the deadline and you say yo boss chill out we can't boil the ocean man you need to give me at least three months to wrap this up"
What it means
It means stop acting like every massive job can be smashed out all at once. You drop it when a plan's ballooned into chaos, the deadline's smoking crack, and somebody needs to bring the whole thing back down to planet Earth. Basically, pick the bit that matters first and quit trying to do the full mega-pack in one go.
Usage examples
"Boss wants the whole launch done by tomorrow, so I’m like nah, we can’t boil the ocean, let’s ship the core bit first."
"We wanted to redesign the whole website, the app, and the logo in one week, until someone reminded us we cannot boil the ocean and we picked one thing."
"They're asking for a full rebrand, new site, and three campaign videos by Friday. Be serious, we can't boil the ocean."
"I know everyone wants the perfect rollout, but we can't boil the ocean, so let's fix the checkout first and leave the fancy stuff for next week."
"They've got six people trying to rebuild the product, redo the brand, and fix support by Monday. Be real, we can't boil the ocean."
Voice comments
No one has left their voice yet. Break the ice.
Where it comes from
A corporate proverb warning that no one can heat an entire ocean at once, so quit trying to tackle everything in one go. It became shorthand for scoping a job down to what is actually doable.
Editors of this term
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