Define: "Boil the ocean" in Business
Catastrophic fiscal burn
"The project manager has lost their mind and wants to expand the scope to impossible levels. Deny by default and start updating your resume."
Undertaking an impossible task or making a project unnecessarily broad.
What does "Boil the ocean" actually mean?
"A project scope written by someone who has never touched a command line in their life."
"We shouldn't try to boil the ocean with this first release; let's keep the scope narrow."
"Instead of fixing the one broken login button, the product owner decided to boil the ocean and force a rewrite of the entire authentication microservice."
By The Chief Waste Officer
18 years in the corporate trenches quantifying waste so you don't have to.
Related Terminology
Tired of hearing this?
Next time someone says "Boil the ocean" in a meeting, track exactly how much company money they just wasted. Play Buzzword Bingo, generate a waste invoice, and stop the bleeding.
