For 10 and a half years, I’ve taught our Microsoft licensing boot camps with Directions on Microsoft co-founder Rob Horwitz.

Over that 10 years, we’ve traveled and worked together so much that colleagues have referred to us multiple times as the odd couple. (Ahem… I am clearly Felix.)

When we teach, it’s multiple days of Rob or myself presenting for a good chunk of the day. In the before times, when we did in-person boot camps every other month, the routine became predictable. We had set schedules, with gaps interspersed strategically throughout the day to ensure bathroom breaks, lunch, and snacks were available.

Although we welcome questions throughout the sessions, the reality is that sometimes people are nervous and don’t want to ask questions during the main session, need or want to dive deeper or more specifically than the other attendees might appreciate, or want to ask… questions that aren’t ideal for sharing in front of the audience as a whole.

When we would break then, that 15 minutes was also my opportunity to get more water, tea, a banana, or… to go to the bathroom.

Rob’s a great cohort for these, as he would often ask if I needed any water or tea (and retrieve it when he saw that I was being held back by questions at a break). But it’s not great to break a question apart and tell a customer, “I gotta pee.“

So one time, many years ago, Rob asked me if I needed anything while I was jammed into a deep customer conversation and question as a break had begun. I had (suboptimally) over-hydrated that morning at breakfast and during my speaking session.

I told him, “I need to manage my I/O.” (input/output)

He looked at me with a slightly confused look.

I silently mouthed to him, “Need to go to the bathroom.“

He nodded and nudged into the conversation, stating, “I’ve got this one, Wes, why don’t you go grab some water.“

Ever since, “I need to manage my I/O” has been code for “I need a bathroom break.”