“We need to define what’s the burning platform”.
We’ve probably all heard this term, and the mental image conveys a sense of crisis and urgency. The origin is even more explicit, it comes from a (possibly apocryphal) story of a man faced with an urgent choice of certain death on an oil rig that was burning or potential death from hypothermia (or sharks) by jumping into the water below. According to the story he jumped and survived.
However the decision facing us in the meeting when I heard the term used was not a crisis, nor was there any urgency (except that imposed by our own project), nor was their a fire, and whatever the decision no lives would be lost.
So what does the term mean now?
In this case, judging by the context, the sentence meant “we need to define the business reason for this change”. It’s supposed to give a sense of urgency to inspire business change. But that’s far less exciting than leaping flames and swirling smoke.
Change Meme 