Useful Phrases for Talking About Projects

useful phrases for talking about projects

Idioms, Phrasal Verbs and More

01

09

"to stay on top of something"

05

"TO DROP THE BALL"

"to be on the ball"

06

02

10

"TO get the ball rolling"

"to pull strings"

"downtime"

"to bite off more than you can chew"

"to think outside the box"

03

07

11

"to multitask"

04

"to take it and run with it"

"to get someone up to speed"

12

"to keep someone posted"

08

01: "To drop the ball"

to make a mistake

To disappoint / let down your team or boss

See an example!

Have you ever dropped the ball at work? When? What happened?

Jack really dropped the ball on this month's project. I can't believe he missed the deadline for turning in the final presentation.

02: "To get the ball rolling"

to start something

Usually a project or process

See an example!

What do you need to get the ball rolling on right now at work?

Sandra and ERICA are getting the ball rolling on our OFFICE christmas party planning.

03: "To think outside the box"

to find an unusual, unorthodox or creative solution to a problem

See an example!

Are you good at thinking outside box? Do you know someone at work who is?

We need to think outside the box if we want to solve this problem without increasing the budget.

04: "To take it and run with it"

To take an idea and get started immediately on a project or process.

See an example!

I think this social media campaign is a really great idea. Take it and run with it! Let’s check back in at the end of the month to see how it’s going.

Have you ever taken an idea and ran with it? What did you do/create?

05: "To be on the ball"

To be alert, ready to react, and prepared for anything.

See an example!

Mike is really on the ball with the invoices. The payments are all running smoothly.

In general, do you stay on the ball with your tasks at work?

06: "To pull strings"

To use power or influence to make something happen that would typically be difficult/impossible.

See an example!

Talk about a time you had to pull some strings at work. Who at your work is good at pulling strings?

The tickets to the conference were sold out, but my boss pulled some strings and got me tickets for all four days!

07: "To bite off more than you can chew"

To accept more work / a stricter schedule / a tighter budget than you can actually manage.

See an example!

We bit off more than we can chew with this project-- the budget and the deadline are both too tight. Can we ask for an extension on the deadline at least?

Talk about a time you bit off more than you could chew at work.

08: "To keep someone posted"

To give someone regular updates on the progress of a project or other task.

See an example!

Keep me posted on how the new software implementation goes. I’m interested to see how quickly the team adapts to it.

do you have to keep your boss posted about the things you do at work?

09: "To stay on top of something"

To stay in control of something (time, budget, etc.)

See an example!

We really have to stay on top of these customer surveys. We need to have the survey results ready by the end of this week.

Did you stay on top of your work last week? if not, what happened?

10: "Downtime"

Time when you aren’t busy working on your main responsibilities at work.

See an example!

Hey! Whenever you have some downtime this week, can you take a look at a proposal I’m working on? I’d like a second opinion.

Do you normally have downtime at work? When?

11: "To multitask"

To do several tasks simultaneously

See an example!

We’re going to have to multitask in order to finish this project by the deadline.

Do you like to multitask at work? What are the multiple tasks that you usually do?

12: "To get someone up to speed"

Giving someone an update/summary of a presentation, project, meeting, etc.

See an example!

Hey! Can you get Jason up to speed on the new project we're working on? We just hired him - it's his first day on the job!

When was the last time you had to get someone up to speed about something at work?