Working Up

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

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Entries from March 2017

Writing and Googling

March 30th, 2017 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Writers (and everyone else): use the research resources that are available. And extend them. Mark this one under the non-existent tag of #a-writing-basic-that-I-feel-compelled-to-write-about-just-for-the-record or something like that. Writers: Google stuff before you write. Google stuff while you are writing. Google stuff after you have finished writing. This is not a paid commercial […]

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Tags: Research · Work · Writing

And Then What Happens?

March 27th, 2017 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips There is a fundamental question to ask in analyzing and engineering systems. Why don’t we use it more often? A: We put this into the system. B: And then what happens? A: Well, now the system can do this great function for the users. B: And then what happens? A: For one […]

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Tags: Adults · Communication · General Systems Thinking · Questions · Systems · Thinking

Analog Had Its Advantages

March 23rd, 2017 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Somteimes I miss the analog days. They covered a lot of my mistakes. Handwritten notes let me fudge and smudge and avoid mistakes—like spelling. I could smudge the “i” and the “e” together and put the dot of the “i” somewhere in the middle, and no one could tell that I didn’t […]

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Tags: Knowledge · Learning · Technology · Work · Writing

In the Mirror

March 20th, 2017 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips I have seen this in people often, especially when looking in the mirror. Not off to a good start, but let’s try to pull something useful from this. We all tend to do what we like and avoid what we don’t like. Not surprising. I like ice cream. I hate paper cuts. […]

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Tags: Adults · Change · Choose · Employment

The Present and the Future

March 16th, 2017 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Here we are in the present. We can decide how we create the future. Things are the way they are because they got that way. Let’s try that again…The present is a natural result of all past circumstances. There are people, capabilities, technology, budget, outside forces, and a host of other things […]

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Tags: Choose · Design · Excuses · Expectations

The Final Nail in the Coffin for the Old Media

March 13th, 2017 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Facebook was the end of the old media. Facebook didn’t start the downfall, but it ended it for good. Mark Zuckerburg recently released a new manifesto for Facebook. The mainstream media is dead. Facebook didn’t kill that big, bad, old mainstream media, it just finished it. Of all things, talk radio on […]

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Tags: Adapting · Blog · Change · Communication

Please Don’t Take Away My Excuses – part 2 I’ll Have to be Responsible

March 9th, 2017 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Excuses are great. As long as I have plenty of excuses, I don’t have to take responsibility for my life. I have plenty of excuses why my life isn’t the way it is supposed to be. I have plenty of excuses why my job isn’t what it is supposed to be. Please […]

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Tags: Excuses · Expectations · Failure

Please Don’t Take Away My Excuses – part 1 I’ll Lose Choices

March 6th, 2017 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Excuses are great. One of the best is “I have so much to do” as it gives me choice as to what I will do today. I have ten jobs I do. If I don’t want to do #3 today, I have an excuse as I am really busy with the other […]

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Tags: Excuses · Expectations · Work

Software Systems Engineering and Agile Development

March 2nd, 2017 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Agile development is not an excuse for knowing what you did, why you did it, and how you did it. You’re doing agile development. You hold a meeting to start a sprint (different methods use different names for this). You sprint! You meet again at the end of the sprint. What did […]

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Tags: Agility · Analysis · Communication · Engineering · Systems