Origin of 30,000 foot view
Comments (1) by Sean Burke
“Here is the 30,000 foot view of our Business Model”
“If we look from 30,000 feet, the Democratic race is all but over”
“Hold on, hold on - we are too in the weeds -let’s look at this from 30,000 feet”
From Venture Capital pitches to Political Campaign analysis this term 30,000 foot view gets kicked around as much as - “at the end of the day”, “SWAG”, “circle back”, “ping”… insert your favorite jargon term here _____. (if you can’t think of one, here is the business jargon dictionary).
In fact, I heard this three times today…so it got me thinking, what are the origins of this term. I thought it had to be from the airline industry since most flights cruise around 30,000 feet. So I googled it - “30,000 foot view” - here are some of the results:
- There is a company that sells financial software that gives a 30,000 foot view
- A flickr user that shares with the world pictures from 30,000 feet
- Network Security Case Study
- A speech quote from Obama vowing to outlaw Business Jargon as words that dumb people use to seem smart
But guess what, even with a good 20 minutes into a google/wiki search - no luck. Here is my offer, if someone can post a comment with the origin of this term (from a business context), I’ll send them one of our Six Disciplines Branded MP3 Players.
Ready, Set, Go!
I’m not sure if he invented it, but David Allen uses the 30,000 foot view in his Getting Things Done book. He uses the altitude metaphor to cover what areas should be focused on at each step. His scale tops out at 50000 ft. which your entire life level and goes all the way down to runway level.
* 50,000 feet: Life
* 40,000 feet: Three to five year visions
* 30,000 feet: One to two year goals
* 20,000 feet: Areas of responsibility
* 10,000 feet: Current projects
* Runway: Current actions (tasks)
http://www.davidco.com/index.php