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Antonym of operational in the sense of larger scope, and non-recurrence but not military

English Language & Usage Asked on May 6, 2021

I’m looking for a word in that is an antonym of operational in something other than "does it function" and the online dictionary/thesaurus don’t have it. Can you help me find the word, and tell me how you did it so I can find it myself later?

How I would like to use it:

  • The enumerated operational deliverables are one, two, and three; while the enumerated _______ deliverables are exx, wie, and tzee.

Webster gives the following definition for "operational":
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My purpose uses it in the sense of day-to-day operations.

It goes on to enumerate antonyms and synonyms as follows:
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These are really on the "does it work vs. does it not work" spectrum. They are not on the "day-to-day, recurring, small scope, tactical operations as contrasted against serving a non-recurring, larger scoped, more strategic goal."

Options that don’t work:

  • strategy vs. tactics: It is primarily military terminology about the execution of war, or about very high (CEO-scale) corporate jargon. I think of operations as the things that keep the factory lights on, place clean and operating properly, the machines supplied with their inputs, and with room to output their outputs.
  • Functional vs. non-functional. This is about scope, not about functionality.
  • Deliverable. It could be argued that a deliverable encompasses both operational and the word that I am trying to find.
  • Material. I work with folks who will view it as input to a production process and not as an outcome of a particular type of work.

(update) About what should work:

  • it is a kind of deliverable, but deliverable is too broad, and material gets confused with the 5M+E/Ishikawa input. It tends to be one-off instead of recurring. Balancing books is operations, but making the certification tests for the new mark-3 widget isn’t the same thing.
  • it is an antonym to operational, as in not sweeping floors or keeping lights on. It is about scope of functionality, not whether or not function exists.
  • it is more strategic than tactical in terms of scope, but the word isn’t strategic because of the baggage that comes with it. Sometimes it is tactical, as in local goal oriented. Mostly it serves strategic goals.

One Answer

Obsolete: A. adj.1. No longer used or practised; ....

1930 Economist 25 Jan. 163/2 The managing director of an important ship-building firm..expresses agreement with a statement that much of the plant in this industry is obsolete.

1967 A. E. Stevenson New Amer. II. iii. 64 Nothing is more hazardous in military policy than rigid adherence to obsolete ideas.

Answered by Greybeard on May 6, 2021

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