Project names
Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2011 1:30 pm
When I was at Cisco Systems, every new project had a code name. This was not so much to thwart industrial espionage as it was because a project needed a name before it had a product name. The actual product name assignment might be the last aspect of the project, so you had to call it something.
For example, the nerds in this forum might be amused to learn the original project name for the best-selling Cisco 2500 router was "Cancun" (I possess a copy of the original Product Requirements Document, or PRD). It was referred to as "Cancun" long before it was designated the Cisco 2500, and in the late nineties you would still meet Cisco oldtimers who called the 2500 "Cancun."
The project names were always part of a theme for whatever series of developments. I guess there were some other projects named after Mexican or Caribbean cities, I'm not sure. I worked on a series of projects that were named after US National Parks (I recall "Acadia" and "Rainier"), and one PRD I produced in record time was called "Camaro," which was later replaced by "Mustang," etc.
As some of my projects here at the office have become more and more hypothetical, I have found I need to start assigning project names in the same way. I began last year, with "Urbino" (which in fact became the product name), and have also been noodling around with something I call "Monrovia," after the street where our office is located. But this isn't enough. I need moar names, for all the other stuff I have planned.
So I decided to use the Sierra Club's Hundred Peaks Sections list of peaks and rocks, in alphabetical order:
Alamo, Allen, Anderson, Antimony, Antsell, Apache, Asbestos, Backus, Bailey, Baldy, Bear, Beauty, Bernard, Bertha, Bighorn, Birch, Bohna, Boucher, Brush, Butler, Butterbredt, Butterfly, Cahuilla, Cajon, Caliente, Castle, Cedar, Chalk, Chaparrosa, Charlton, Chief, Chuckwalla, Circle, Cleghorn, Cobblestone, Combs, Condor, Cone, Constance, Cornell, Crafts, Cross, Cucamonga, Cummings, Cuyama, Cuyamaca, Cuyapaipe, Dawson, Deer, Delamar, Dobbs, Double, Drury, Eagle, Etiwanda, Eureka, Five, Folly, Fox, Frazier, Galena, Garnet, Gold, Goodykoontz, Granite, Grays, Grinnell, Grouse, Guatay, Haddock, Hawes, Heald, Heaps, Hildreth, Hines, Indian, Ingham, Iron, Iron, Japacha, Jean, Jepson, Jobs, Josephine, Joshua, Keller, Kitching, Laguna, Lake, Liebre, Lightner, Lily, Lion, Lockwood, Lookout, Luna, Madulce, Marion, Martinez, Mayan, McDonald, McKinley, McPherson, Meeks, Middle, Mill, Mineral, Modjeska, Monrovia (oops, can't use that one again!), Monument, Morgan, Morris, Nicolls, North, Oakzanita, Occidental, Ontario, Onyx, Ortega, Owens, Pacifico, Pallett, Palomar, Peak, Pechacho, Pine, Pinnacles, Pinyon, Pisgah, Pyramid, Quail, Queen, Rabbit, Ranger, Rattlesnake, Red, Reyes, Ross, Round, Rouse, Russell, Ryan, Samon, Santiago, Sawmill, Sawtooth, Scodie, Sewart, Shay, Sheep, Sheephead, Shields, Silver, Skinner, Slide, Smith, Snowy, Sorrell, Southwell, Spitler, Stephenson, Stonewall, Strawberry, Sugarloaf, Sugarpine, Suicide, Sunday, Sunset, Table, Tahquitz, Tecuya, Tehachapi, Telegraph, Thomas, Throop, Thunder, Timber, Topotopa, Toro, Vetter, Villager, Waterman, Weldon, Whale, Whiteacre, Wilshire, Winston, Wright and Wysup.
That's almost 200 project names! I've already assigned about fifteen. I won't run out for a while.
For example, the nerds in this forum might be amused to learn the original project name for the best-selling Cisco 2500 router was "Cancun" (I possess a copy of the original Product Requirements Document, or PRD). It was referred to as "Cancun" long before it was designated the Cisco 2500, and in the late nineties you would still meet Cisco oldtimers who called the 2500 "Cancun."
The project names were always part of a theme for whatever series of developments. I guess there were some other projects named after Mexican or Caribbean cities, I'm not sure. I worked on a series of projects that were named after US National Parks (I recall "Acadia" and "Rainier"), and one PRD I produced in record time was called "Camaro," which was later replaced by "Mustang," etc.
As some of my projects here at the office have become more and more hypothetical, I have found I need to start assigning project names in the same way. I began last year, with "Urbino" (which in fact became the product name), and have also been noodling around with something I call "Monrovia," after the street where our office is located. But this isn't enough. I need moar names, for all the other stuff I have planned.
So I decided to use the Sierra Club's Hundred Peaks Sections list of peaks and rocks, in alphabetical order:
Alamo, Allen, Anderson, Antimony, Antsell, Apache, Asbestos, Backus, Bailey, Baldy, Bear, Beauty, Bernard, Bertha, Bighorn, Birch, Bohna, Boucher, Brush, Butler, Butterbredt, Butterfly, Cahuilla, Cajon, Caliente, Castle, Cedar, Chalk, Chaparrosa, Charlton, Chief, Chuckwalla, Circle, Cleghorn, Cobblestone, Combs, Condor, Cone, Constance, Cornell, Crafts, Cross, Cucamonga, Cummings, Cuyama, Cuyamaca, Cuyapaipe, Dawson, Deer, Delamar, Dobbs, Double, Drury, Eagle, Etiwanda, Eureka, Five, Folly, Fox, Frazier, Galena, Garnet, Gold, Goodykoontz, Granite, Grays, Grinnell, Grouse, Guatay, Haddock, Hawes, Heald, Heaps, Hildreth, Hines, Indian, Ingham, Iron, Iron, Japacha, Jean, Jepson, Jobs, Josephine, Joshua, Keller, Kitching, Laguna, Lake, Liebre, Lightner, Lily, Lion, Lockwood, Lookout, Luna, Madulce, Marion, Martinez, Mayan, McDonald, McKinley, McPherson, Meeks, Middle, Mill, Mineral, Modjeska, Monrovia (oops, can't use that one again!), Monument, Morgan, Morris, Nicolls, North, Oakzanita, Occidental, Ontario, Onyx, Ortega, Owens, Pacifico, Pallett, Palomar, Peak, Pechacho, Pine, Pinnacles, Pinyon, Pisgah, Pyramid, Quail, Queen, Rabbit, Ranger, Rattlesnake, Red, Reyes, Ross, Round, Rouse, Russell, Ryan, Samon, Santiago, Sawmill, Sawtooth, Scodie, Sewart, Shay, Sheep, Sheephead, Shields, Silver, Skinner, Slide, Smith, Snowy, Sorrell, Southwell, Spitler, Stephenson, Stonewall, Strawberry, Sugarloaf, Sugarpine, Suicide, Sunday, Sunset, Table, Tahquitz, Tecuya, Tehachapi, Telegraph, Thomas, Throop, Thunder, Timber, Topotopa, Toro, Vetter, Villager, Waterman, Weldon, Whale, Whiteacre, Wilshire, Winston, Wright and Wysup.
That's almost 200 project names! I've already assigned about fifteen. I won't run out for a while.
