Back in the garage with my bullshit detector

Being a veteran of the dot-com era, I learned very quickly to have no tolerance for marketing speak, meaningless vision statements or management buzzwords. It was universally true that companies that used management jargon either didn't know what they were doing or were intentionally trying to be misleading.

Now there is a tool that detects weasel-speak in company reports, from Deloitte Consulting. I think this sums up its effectiveness:

To put Bullfighter to the test, Deloitte ran Enron's accounts through the program. “We found that as the company got into deeper and deeper trouble, the language got more and more obscure,” said [Deloitte Partner] Mr [Brian] Fugere.

The software is called Bullfighter. It is only for Windows XP/Office 2000 but it is free. Very surprising from a consulting company, but they seem to have the right attitude.

kherr @ 21:39 CDT | link | general