1. To kick off/to get the ball rolling
2. To give (someone) a heads up
3. A pain point
4. To get up to speed/bring (someone) up to speed
5. To green light something/to give the go ahead
6. To be snowed under
7. To cut corners
8. To go the extra mile
9. In a nutshell
10. The bottom line
11. The big picture
12. Back to square on/back to the drawing board
13. To think outside the box
14. To brainstorm