Working Up

Working Up in Project Management, Systems Engineering, Technology, and Writing

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Entries from January 2009

Preferences and Volunteer Organizations

January 29th, 2009 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips I work with volunteer groups and have done so since I was a teenager. Volunteers are precious resources, but are often difficult colleagues who quarrel. Why? These people are dedicated to a common cause. What is the problem? I believe half of one reason is the role of preferences. Preferences come in […]

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Tags: Management · People · Volunteer

Let’s Spend a Billion Dollars

January 26th, 2009 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips This should be fun, right? A billion dollars to spend on technology to stimulate the economy. I mean, the new Administration is proposing spending $37Billion in 18 months on technology. Let’s do some calculations on a napkin (I am literally doing that here at the table). $1Million hires four technically skilled people […]

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Tags: Management · Technology

People and 3 to the Nth Power

January 24th, 2009 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips One management method doesn’t fit all size projects. It seems that while some few practices work in all cases and some practices work in no cases, there are many practices that work in only one or two cases. This isn’t news to most readers, but there is a way to tell when […]

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Tags: Management · People

The Special-Purpose Computer

January 20th, 2009 · No Comments

Here is an update on Michael Arrington’s attempt to build a simple, inexpensive, web-browing tablet computer. One issue I see is that he is learning that it may cost $299 to build this “simple” computer. We can buy fully-functional portable computers for that price. Once again, the general purpose computer makers have bypassed someone trying […]

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Tags: Technology

Writing in a Journal

January 16th, 2009 · No Comments

I write in a journal almost everyday. I started doing this about eight years ago at the urging or Jerry Weinberg. I was about to attend a writer’s workshop led by Weinberg. He sent out an email telling the attendees several things that we might do to  prepare. Journal writing was one of the things. […]

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Tags: Journal · Writing

The Death of Newspapers: Poor News Writing

January 14th, 2009 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Newspapers are dying. They are being replaced by the Internet. The story goes on and on. But why? Newsprint is easier to read for many of us. I always found the big page format clumsy to hold and fold and keep straight, but it was print and I could take it anywhere. […]

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Tags: Judgment · Observation · Writing

Obama’s Blackberry

January 13th, 2009 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips With the presidential inauguration a week away, there is much chatter on the Internet about Barack Obama being allowed to have a Blackberry when he is president. The issue is of course SECURITY. Any competent intelligence service can eavesdrop on a cell phone. Can we make a secure Blackberry or iPhone or […]

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Tags: Security · Technology

Hello world!

January 12th, 2009 · No Comments

Welcome to the Working Up blog. See the about page for information.

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Tags: Uncategorized