Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

Sometimes the good ideas are lurking in the wrong places.

Looking for good ideas? Look at bad sources.

Read a crummy book. In it I will find, “Now that sentence there is a good idea for a book or something. Why didn’t this person write the book about that instead of the junk they wrote about?”

Crummy magazine article, same thing, “That is an interesting point. The rest of this is junk.”

Look at:

• Any movie
• Any TV show episode
• Any speech
• Any sermon
• and so on

Buried in a crummy source is a good idea. That is one reason the crummy source is so crummy. The creator went the wrong way with the wrong idea. The right way and the good idea are lurking in all that crummy material. Use the good idea.

by Dwayne Phillips

This week’s world-wide excuse for not doing your job continues.

Due to an excuse, I will no longer be doing all of my job. I will continue to receive all of my salary (good for me), but don’t expect all of my efforts. It is pretty nice receiving all of my salary and not having to do all of my job, but hey, that’s what excuses are for, right? Excusing less-than-admirable behavior.

Okay, COVID is rough on some occupations. So are the election results, the outcome of the Super Bowl, being rejected at the prom, etc. Okay, you can’t do all of your job. Fine, I receive less than all of my salary. But that isn’t fair or something. Well, too bad. We all chose to follow whatever, so we all have to do with less during these times. Uh, what? I don’t want to suffer that much? I want all I had and expect to do less? Oh, that’s nice. Okay, why not? I mean, I didn’t cause this problem, so why suffer from it? Oh, that’s part of being a adult? Oh, that silly notion. No, I can have all we want all of the time in all situations. Welcome to the 21st century.

Okay, this little post has a nasty old mean streak to it. Well, some folks have had to work harder for the same pay during the current “crisis.” Too bad for them. Some of us rich folks got to stay home and receive full pay. I didn’t have to give back the money I saved on gas and time while commuting. Lucky me. And too bad for those folks who had to work just as hard and harder than normal. Thank them for their service. That will soothe it all. No, it won’t.

by Dwayne Phillips

An age-old method of writing long pieces comes from writing short pieces without a plan or outline. The “outline” comes later.

I recently stumbled across a description of writers as Story Quilters. This is not a method of planning or outlining a large piece before writing anything. This is not a method of writing with no aim and discovering what it is that I want to write (some call this “pants-ing” for writing by the seat of your pants).

Consider writing a novel (this method can work with other types of writing including nonfiction). I have a few characters in mind. I have a few settings in mind. I have some ideas. I write a scene with these ideas, characters, settings, etc. I write another scene and another and another.

I have a dozen or so scenes. I piece together these scenes as a person would piece together patches of cloth in a quilt. I adjust the scenes here and there so that they flow into a novel.

This is similar to patching together blog posts into a larger piece.

This quilting is not new. For centuries, writers have sketched pictures, written poems, written speeches, and many other short pieces over time. These short pieces, using lots of hard work, were placed together into a novel.

This works.

Yes, this can be done poorly. Many methods can be used poorly. This is, however, something that has been done quite well in the past and is worth trying.

by Dwayne Phillips

I have been experimenting with Google’s NotebookLLM. I like is using it to remind me of what I have written in fifteen years of this blog.

I have been experimenting with Google’s NotebookLLM. I’m still not sure what NotebookLLM is or what it is intended to do. I guess there is value in experimenting before drawing conclusions.

One thing I have found useful is reminding me of what I have written. I have been writing this blog for about fifteen years. I fail to remember everything I have written. I fail to understand the themes of my writing. If a really smart person read all my blog posts, how would they describe me and my writings?

The NotebookLLM takes the place of that really smart person—well, sort of, maybe.

I downloaded all my blog posts (WordPress export to XML). I ran a utility program I wrote that strips enough of the XML away so that I have an HTML that I can read in a browser. I then paste all that into MS Word and save it as a PDF. This is all approximately good enough for this purpose.

I pushed the PDF of fifteen years of blog posts into NotebookLLM. I can “ask questions of” NotebookLLM based on these 1,600 blog posts. Viola’. There are answers.

Privacy? I am sending Google this great big PDF of blog posts. Well, I’ve already sent the whole world all these blog posts, so someone already has copies. Privacy is not an issue in this use case.

Perfection? Nope. This is, however, pretty good and good enough for this use at this time for me.

by Dwayne Phillips

Non-fiction books should be useful and recommendable. It is easy to lose sight of these qualities. A book by Rob Fitzpatrick is full of these qualities.

I recently finished reading a book of simple fundamentals for writing non-fiction. “Write Useful Books. A modern approach to designing and refining recommendable nonfiction,” Rob Fitzpatrick, 2021, ISBN-10: 1919621601, ISBN-13: 978-1919621609.

The two key words in the title are useful and recommendable. Consider when two persons are talking. One has a vexing problem. The other says, “I had that problem. I read a book and learned how to solve it. You have to read that book and follow its advice.” Useful and recommendable.

Okay, nice qualities. How do you do that. Fitzpatrick’s book is a pretty good place to start.

Consider the nonfiction book NOT as a book, but as a product.

Consider this product example: A Shower Valve Socket Wrench Set is a product. You have to work on a leaky faucet in your shower? GET THIS. It is useful and I am recommending it.

Front load the nonfiction book, i.e., put the most useful things first. People may read the first ten pages. Make them the most useful.

The Table of Contents is the proposal for the book. Chapter, section, subsection titles should be long and descriptive and full of action.

Teach the topic before writing the book.

Test the book with beta testers early before you put a lot of work into it.

The list goes on. Most of those above sentences are in the Table of Contents.

Cheesy? Maybe. Overly optimistic? Maybe.

Fresh and to the point? Absolutely.

Useful and recommendable? Absolutely.

by Dwayne Phillips

This is an old saying told to me many, many years ago. It is true today more than ever.

Recent “reports” tell me that some Federal agencies are arresting folks who are merely trying to help their neighbors. And I hear of nice folks pointing guns at other Americans who are temporary employees of some Federal agencies. Americans are stopping Americans from helping Americans. Really? Are we this bad?

A long time ago (it was in this galaxy not one far, far away), an older person told me the title of this little blog post.

Don’t believe half of what you see and none of what you hear.

This is more true today than ever before. Recent technology makes it really easy to holler something that a lot of folks can hear. And nobody can corner me and ask, “Hey, are you sure about that? If not, would you take it back?”

What to do? Follow the advice given me. I read and watch stuff online that comes from people I know, i.e., people I can corner and ask, “Hey, are you sure about that?”

Other sources of information? Sigh. Move on. We can do better.

by Dwayne Phillips

Was my book or speech or seminar replaced by Wikipedia and ChatGPT? Time for me to learn.

Was my book replaced by Wikipedia, i.e., each section of my book can be read or the reader can just go read a few Wikipedia pages?

Is my book redundant to Wikipedia? The same can be asked with all these chattering bots like ChatGPT.

Can a person just ask the chattering bot, “How does earned value management work?” or “What are the key concepts of Agile Development or MBSE or DevSecOps or ice cream?”

The book needs to be something more. Facts are everywhere.

I was at a noted writing seminar years ago. The leader of the seminar, who had written some forty or fifty non-fiction books many of which sold quite well, told someone, “Learn how to punctuate dialogue.” The accomplished writer did teach the new writer dialogue punctuation. There were already a thousand-and-one sources that covered those facts. Just facts. Not worth a new lecture.

Not writing a book or giving a seminar? “Just” managing work and leading people? Same thing. No need to call a meeting and talk for an hour on how to punctuate dialogue or make ice cream. Establish the need and point to a source. Facts.

Let’s use the resources already at hand. Let’s do better.

by Dwayne Phillips

An old adage that still applies today as long as we apply it wisely.

Some wise and famous person stated the title of this post long ago, I think. Still, it bears repeating in one variation or another.

I am here to tell you something. What I have to say is important. Pay attention.

Oh wait, you are here as well? You might have something to say that you feel is important? Huh?

I have to pause myself. I am not the all-important person that I sometimes believe myself to be. Others may believe themselves to be fairly important as well. Pause. Listen. Understand. There are many techniques to help me understand. Use those techniques.

Now that I have some understanding of the other person, I can tell you something. Oh, wait. Maybe after understanding you, I decide to just keep my mouth shut and not tell you that thing that seemed so important before I understood you.

We can do better. Let’s try.

by Dwayne Phillips

I encounter this situation often when reading the Help Wanted ads (the kind we have today online). The job description and requirements are far too specific.

I have experience being unemployed and trying to find a new job. I don’t like the experience, but I learn a few things now and then.

One learned item is to note when someone is trying to hire someone who already works there or here. Under Job Requirements, they list a dozen specific tools in combination. If you don’t know every one of those tools in that specific combination, you are unqualified for the job.

If you do know every one of those tools in that specific combination, you are already working in the job. The specific combination of every one of those tools is unique to the job. Only those already working the job has that.

I’m going around in circles trying to describe this. I have gone around in circles trying to dissuade those who write such job descriptions. They want someone to walk in, sit down, and perform the job instantly. Sorry, only someone who is already performing the job can do so.

This is yet another example of being too specific. I like precise, concrete, and specific. There are situations, however, where this just doesn’t work. Sigh. We can do better.

by Dwayne Phillips

When confronting something that looks odd, show it to an old person. They may have seen this before and can explain it.

Many years ago, a programmer saw an odd way to demodulate amplitude modulation. The method didn’t resemble any of the equations or diagrams regarding amplitude modulation (AM, or that radio you never use in your car anymore).

The fresh PhDs (really smart people) looked at it and shrugged.

One of the smarter fresh PhDs said, “Show this to what’s-his-name. He is old and has seen a lot of things. Maybe he’s seen this before.”

The programmer followed the advice and showed it to the old guy.

A smile slowly formed on the old guy’s face. His hand went to his forehead and slowly rubbed the thin hear left on his head.

“Yes, we used to do this. The nature of AM is such that there is so much redundancy in the signal that you can do this and have a very cheap demodulater that works well enough for people to understand the content.”

It was a decades-old hack of the AM system. Do this crazy thing that shouldn’t work, and it will work.

Lots of AI is this way this year. Show it to an old person. Watch them slowly smile and rub the thin hear left on their head. At this moment, be prepared to hear about a decades-old hack that someone has declared to be a significant new breakthrough.

Old people may not be quick any longer, but they know a lot of stuff about a lot of stuff.