Back of the Napkin
Adjective Phrase · Slang & Abbreviations
Definitions
Describing a rough estimate, sketch, or quick model done informally without much precision. In engineering slang, back-of-the-napkin work is useful for framing decisions early, as long as no one mistakes it for final analysis.
In plain English: A rough, informal estimate or sketch.
Example: "The traffic projection was just a back-of-the-napkin estimate, but it was enough to show that the current queue design would probably fall over during launch."
Related Terms
- Over Budget
- TBD
- Estimation
- Bog Standard
- Boilerplate Slang
- Box
- Brain Teaser
- Bullet Proof
- Calendar Driven Development
- Call It a Day
- Canary in the Coal Mine
- Car Analogy
- Cookie Cutter
- Critical Path Slang
- Ctrl Alt Delete
- Cube Farm
- Death by PowerPoint
- Deploy Day
- Deploy Party
- Deploy Window
- Developer Tea
- Done Done
- Dry Run
- Fat Finger
- Flat Is Better
- Flush
- Force of Nature
- Fun Size
- Gotcha
- Gray Area
- Green Bar
- Grinding
- Growing Pains
- Hack Together
- Half Baked
- Hard Stop
- Have You Tried Turning It Off
- Hurry Up and Wait
- If It Ain't Broke
- In the Zone
- Internet Points
- It Just Works
- Just Works
- Kanban Board Slang
- Kill Process
- Kitchen Sink
- Known Unknown
- Last Mile
- Lemon
- Less Is More
- Level Up
- Living Document
- Look Before You Leap
- Lost in Translation
- Low Battery
- Lunch and Learn
- Mind Blown
- Mind Map
- Monkey Business
- Move the Needle
- My First Rodeo
- No Fix
- Non-Starter
- Not a Bug
- Not My Problem
- Nothing to See Here
- Number Crunching
- Open Door Policy
- Ounce of Prevention
- Overkill
- Paper Cut
- Party Like It's 1999
- Pass the Torch
- Permission Denied
- Pipe Dream
- Play It Safe
- Point of No Return
- Power Move
- Power User Slang
- Prototype Slang
- Push Through
- Quick and Dirty
- Quick Fix
- Quick Win Slang
- Quit and Restart
- Ramp Up
- Real Talk
- Reality Check
- Red Flag
- Release Party
- Rising Tide
- Road Warrior
- Rock and Roll
- Running Lean
- Safe Mode
- Safety Net
- Sandbagging
- Scope Monster
- Secret Sauce
- See No Evil
- Send It
- Shift Blame
- Short Straw
- Show Stopper
- Signature Move
- Sitting Duck
- Skeleton Code
- Slow Burn
- Slow Roll
- Smoke and Mirrors
- Smoke Test Slang
- Snake Oil
- Snapshot Slang
- So It Goes
- Soft Landing
- Source of Pain
- Speed Bump
- Spider Sense
- Spin Cycle
- Spin the Wheel
- Standing Desk
- Stay in Your Lane
- Still Compiling
- Sugar Rush
- Sunday Scaries
- Sunshine and Rainbows
- Swiss Army Knife
- T Minus
- Talk Is Cheap
- Tame the Beast
- Tap Out
- Tear Down
- Tech Cringe
- Temporary Fix
- The Happy Path
- The Hard Way
- The Long Game
- The Real MVP
- Third Time's the Charm
- Three Amigos
- Three Laws
- Throw It Over the Wall
- Tick Tock
- Tip of the Iceberg
- Tipping Point Slang
- Toll Road
- Too Clever
- Top Gun
- Torch Passing
- Total Recall
- Train Wreck
- Triple Threat
- True North
- Trust the Process
- Turn It Off and On Again
- Two Heads
- Two Wrongs
- Typing Test
- Umbrella
- Under the Bus
- Until It Breaks
- Up and Running
- User Hostile
- Vanilla
- Version Fatigue
- Vintage Code
- Virtual High Five
- Wall of Shame
- Watch and Learn
- Watchdog
- Wave Goodbye
- Weird Flex
- What's in a Name
- Wheel of Fortune
- White Noise
- White Screen
- Whiteboard
- Whiteboard Interview
- Wide Open
- Window Shopping
- Wired
- Wombat
- Won't Fix
- Work Smarter
- World Domination
- Worth the Effort
- WTF Moment
- Yellow Card
- Yet Another
- You Shall Not Pass
- Zero Budget
- Zero Configuration
- Zero Effort
- Zipline
- Zombie Mode