Working Up

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

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Entries from August 2014

All Other Things Being Equal

August 28th, 2014 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Although it is rare that all other things are equal, they can be. This is especially true if there is only one person involved and that one person tries hard. It is difficult to keep all other things equal. The goal is to change just one thing, and observe what happens in […]

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Tags: Change

YAGNI and the Common Core

August 25th, 2014 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips You aren’t going to need it should be applied to the Common Core for education. I now delve into something for which I evidently have no expertise: arithmetic. I also delve into another topic for which I evidently have no expertise: education. Allow me to preface my ignorant rant by writing that […]

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Tags: Education

Change the Training

August 21st, 2014 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips We have a #1 response of any bureaucracy in the 21st century. Any time a bureaucracy has a flub up (technical term), the response is the same: We will address this item as we change the training. This is the #1 response to any situation in the 21st century. Gosh. At least […]

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Tags: Change · Education · Employment · Thinking

Resistance as a Resource

August 18th, 2014 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips When people resist me, they are telling me something. Am I listening? Dale Emery is an acquaintance of mine. I owe the topic of this blog post to him. See here and here. When people resist me, they are telling me something. That something is valuable information. I can ignore the information […]

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Tags: Communication

Mental Concentration and Awkwardness

August 14th, 2014 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Looks are often deceiving. Especially how you look when you are concentrating. Many years ago, a college professor told a calculus class I was in something like, “People think you are wandering the campus absentmindedly when the opposite is true. You are in deep concentration.” I often find myself standing to walk […]

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Tags: Breathe · Thinking

The Perfect Time to Write: When I Don’t Feel Like It

August 11th, 2014 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips The perfect time to write is one of the less expected. I write a lot, everyday, day after day. I am writing now. There are times when people like me don’t feel like writing. Those are the perfect times to write. Here is why. I write a lot because I like to […]

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Tags: Writing

Searching for the Digital Assistant

August 7th, 2014 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips A social robot is the last in a long line of attempts at building a digital assistant. Maybe we should just hire people to be personal assistants? I stumbled across this little “social robot.” It talks to you when you talk to it. It makes phone calls for you. It takes pictures […]

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Tags: Technology

Watching Competence Evaporate

August 4th, 2014 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Competence evaporates when we are upset. There are some things we can do to work our way back to competence, but they are not easy. I recently watched a group of otherwise competent people behave in a most incompetent manner. They had an excellent excuse as they were under great emotional stress. […]

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Tags: Breathe · Competence · Health · Judgment