peanut buttering
n.— «Peanut buttering (v)—The tendency to evenly distribute resources across the full range of a product rather than focusing on a few core Value Propositions. While discussing this issue recently someone described it as “peanut buttering” the product. By spreading out all our resources evenly across the product we lose the opportunity to focus on a few key areas where we can deliver a substantial value proposition. Notice this does NOT mean that we forget the basics.» —“Peanut butter and software planning” by Brad Abrams Brad Abrams Nov. 21, 2005. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
It was a dark and stormy night. So begins the long and increasingly convoluted prose of Edwards Bulwer-Lytton’s best-known novel. Today the annual Bulwer-Lytton Contest asks contestants for fanciful first sentences that are similarly...
The words tough, through, and dough all end in O-U-G-H. So why don’t they rhyme? A lively new book addresses the many quirks of English by explaining the history of words and phrases. And: have you ever been in a situation where a group makes...
Mark Hurd, the CEO of Hewlett-Packard, likes to use the term “peanut butter spread” to describe the same resource misallocation problem. I don’t know if his usage predates Brad Adams’ or not.