It's pretty important what "N things" and "___" actually is. It could just be a manager wanting to make sure priorities are still aligned, I do this all the tim

It's pretty important what "N things" and "___" actually is. It could just be a manager wanting to make sure priorities are still aligned, I do this all the time. If "___" was "slacking off" then, yeah it's a different story. Calling this "manager speak" feels a bit annoying to me as a (sometimes) manager, I for one, generally would like people to be happy and work on things they like. And I hope people indicate it if they aren't. Everybody goes through waves of increased and decreased motivation, as long as you are aware of it and try to learn from it, it's fine by me.