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

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Entries from March 2016

The Price is Right (until it was wronged)

March 31st, 2016 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Often it is better to let people watch a game show at work while they eat lunch. Here is a sad but true story. In the early 1990s I worked in a big computing laboratory. At one end of the multi-thousand-square-foot facility we had a “conference” room. This room had a sink, […]

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Tags: Management · Work

Preparation

March 28th, 2016 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Probably the best preparation is to be prepared to be unprepared. I prepare. I plan. I am ready. I drive some people nuts with these habits. Somewhere along the line I learned that I was never prepared for everything. Hence, I became prepared for that, too. I learned to be prepared to […]

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Tags: Adapting · Authentic · Process · Reaction

Learning What You Want to Be

March 24th, 2016 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Here is an exercise that may help you learn what you want to be or learn what excites you. Not sure what you want to be? Have someone say, “You will one day be a fill-in-the-blank.” For example, have someone introduce you to a stranger by saying: This is Dwayne, he will […]

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Tags: Expectations

It is (not) Just a Table

March 21st, 2016 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Sometimes the arrangement of furniture in an office is far more important than a first glance indicates. Once upon a time, I worked in an organization that moved into some office spaces that were previously occupied by another organization. We inherited their office furniture and their arrangement of office furniture. In the […]

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Tags: Communication · Management · Work

Software Engineers and Software Engineering

March 17th, 2016 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Being a computer programmer does not make me a software engineer. Deep sigh before I begin. This is yet another post borne of frustration in talking with recruiters and hiring managers. Now that the sigh is out of the way. A computer programmer is not a software engineer. There. Wrote that bit. […]

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Tags: Computing · Engineering · Programming · Work

Reading and the Technical Writer

March 14th, 2016 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips All writers should read. This goes for technical writers, too. Writers should read. Writers should read good material. Writers should read several hours a day. Fine. What about the technical writer? That is all non-fiction. There are plenty of good non-fiction books to read. I recommend the Pulitzer prize winners. I also […]

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Tags: Reading · Writing

Finger Pointing

March 10th, 2016 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips The single worst possible change in pose I can do is when I point a finger away from myself and towards another person.

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Tags: Communication

Neighborly

March 7th, 2016 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips I encourage managers and other influence-rs to speak to their colleagues in the place where the colleagues are most comfortable. I encourage managers and other to speak with each of their colleagues. I find two points here: First, speak to your colleagues everyday. If nothing special is happening, talk about “the weather.” […]

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Tags: Communication · Work

Is This a Job Interview or a Consulting Session?

March 3rd, 2016 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips I have been interviewed for jobs several dozen times in the last three years. Most “interviews” became free consulting sessions. The past three years have not been good for me and working at paying jobs. I am over age and over qualified. At least I soothe my feelings by telling myself these […]

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Tags: Communication · Competence · Consulting · Employment · Expectations · Greed