Balls out

Has anyne heard the term "balls out"? It is often used in business settings when a company
decides to change to a new software system. To go "balls out" means to install it and use it without
worrying about the way we've always done it.

Does the term come from the way the pendulum swings all the way out?

Um. Well. Ahhh. No.

To go "balls out" means to throw caution to the winds and charge full-steam ahead. Without wanting to be too blunt as to the phrase's provenance, it's something which we males could do both figuratively *and* literally (though I can't think of any printable occasions when I'd do the latter), whereas the fairer sex is limited to doing it figuratively.

I believe that this expression originated with the early steam engines whose governors were a pair of spinning balls, which described a larger and larger circle as the demanded speed, and hence their rotational speed, increased to control the steam valve and hence the flow of steam from boiler to pistons.