These comments are inspired by two things: 1) observations during PLM consulting work in life science companies and 2) remembering an article by Edeger W. Dijkstra, A Case Against the GO TO Statement, in Communications of the ACM 11 (1968), 3: 147–148.  As an R&D product development engineer, I have found the following a great help to innovation: change the vocabulary to change the perspective on the problem, the new perspective enables new insights for innovation.

During a recent business trip, I was sitting in an airport café with some colleagues while discussing how to build and manage BOMs.  We got some strange looks.  Then I mentioned something about exploding the BOM.  More strange looks.  Nervous glances.  Finally, we decided it was best to avoid using the B word in airports.  But since you probably know a thing or two about BOMs and PLM (otherwise, uh,  why are you reading this?), I'll assume you know what I'm talking about and I can use my normal Nerd-speak of PLM acronyms.  (My nickname around the office is "Big Nerd", because I'm six foot four and I think BOMs are interesting).