Working Up

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

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Entries Tagged as 'Brevity'

Just a Little Bit More (Being Too Helpful)

February 5th, 2024 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Loving and caring people want to help others. So we put one more thought into the writing and one more statement into the speaking. Delete those. Here are tips on editing writing that don’t need much thought, but hold true about 98.6% of the time: Get the idea? Loving and caring people […]

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Tags: Brevity · Clarity · Communication · Writing

The Most-Heard Sermon of All Time

December 25th, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Three generations ago, an eight-year-old told us the reason for the season. The most-heard sermon of all time was delivered by an 8-year-old boy voicing a cartoon in 1965. Christopher Shea spoke the words below in A Charlie Brown Christmas. That sermon has been heard by millions or hundreds of millions of […]

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Tags: America · Authentic · Brevity · Christmas · Clarity

Mean What We Say and Say What We Mean

December 21st, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Let us mean what we say and say what we mean. Sometimes that requires too much effort. The effort is worth it if we want others to take us seriously. You know what I mean, huh? You get my drift, right? Just go along with me on this one. And then one […]

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Tags: Brevity · Clarity · Communication · Competence · Culture · Thinking

Jargon

December 14th, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips We continue to use too much jargon. Are we illiterate or just too lazy to type words? I am reviewing materials for a certification. Gosh, I am too old for this, but whatever. I won’t mention the name of the certification. I you continue reading this post, you can probably guess which […]

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Tags: Brevity · Clarity · Communication · Conversation · Word · Writing

Abbreviations

June 19th, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips This is another fundamental of written communications that we seem to have forgotten—the humble abbreviation. Let’s abbreviate: The last item in the list is confusing, but given the context we always know what that means, right? Sorry, we don’t. I contend that we should not use abbreviations any longer. 98.6% of the […]

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Tags: Brevity · Clarity · Tools · Work · Writing

Too Simple

March 13th, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips We tend to want complex things. Too simple shows that we didn’t work hard, right? No, that is usually wrong. It happened again at work this week… Someone wanted a couple of sentences that summarized a project. The project had been running for ten years and is a success. Lots of people […]

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Tags: Brevity · Clarity · Communication · Simple · Writing

The Explainers

September 19th, 2022 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips We need more explainers. These are persons who answer the question, “Whatcha’ doin’?” Whatcha’ doin’? Hows’it work? How ya’ doin’? These are simple questions. These are the basic questions we ask others all the time. Often, we repeat the question six or seven times in different forms and still don’t receive an […]

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Tags: Brevity · Clarity · Communication · Expectations · Questions

I could Talk for Hours about This

December 30th, 2021 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips The ability to immediately talk at length about a topic often shows a lack of forethought. “I could talk for hours about this.” I have heard that many times. I have said it a few times. What I later learned after saying it myself was that I had failed to think about […]

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Tags: Brevity · Clarity · Communication · Thinking

Okay, Write Those Words

December 20th, 2021 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips For some reason, we often run away from the words that we want most to convey. I work with persons who are trying to write. They show me their draft, we talk, we walk through the words, and I ask questions. The questions usually lead to grimaces and twisted expressions, struggled breathing, […]

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Tags: Adults · Brevity · Clarity · Communication · Word · Writing

Thank You for Helping, but Enough is Enough

August 2nd, 2021 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Kind, caring, helping persons tend to keep going to be more kind, caring, and helpful. Delete the last part. I have met many kind, caring, and helpful persons, who love others. They speak and write and teach in all forms to convey helpful information. They want to be helpful, to ensure others […]

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Tags: Breathe · Brevity · Clarity · Communication · Help · Respect · Time