Typically this is the guidance that the head of sales gives every CIO as a means of boosting productivity throughout the company. This is rapidly being replaced by "Just give everybody an iPad."

7. "We delivered the project on time and on budget."

This really means: "we managed to deliver a subset of the original user requirements while spending the same amount of money over a longer period of time to which we got them to agree."

8. "No one ever got fired around here by buying XYZ."

The granddaddy of them all, this phrase has resulted in the acquisition of hardware and software that is frequently underutilized—but has subsidized the college education of many sales reps' children.