Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips
Some people don’t know what they want until they see it. This can be agonizing for those of us who decide what we want and then do it. There is a way for the two of us to work together.
The conversation usually proceeds like this:

Me: You tell me what you want, and I [...]

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by Dwayne Phillips
A recent peek into the world of grad students in engineering and related fields reveals a group of people with a strong desire to work for the benefit of others.
I have been working with grad students on writing. This took many months to arrange, but for the past couple of weeks I have [...]

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by Dwayne Phillips
The title of this post is a telephone number - the way we used to say telephone numbers. Much has changed in telephones, and much of the change is for the better. Still, we have lost a lot of our culture about telephones.
The title of this post is a phone number. When I [...]

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by Dwayne Phillips
The FCC released its National Broadband Plan this week. Sigh, where do I start with this thing?
The Front Cover
The PDF version that I downloaded from broadband.gov has no date on the cover. Does anyone at the FCC understand configuration management? Silly question.
Go to the first line of the Preface:
The staff of the Federal [...]

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by Dwayne Phillips
Design reviews can be important parts of projects. At design reviews, we attempt to communicate clearly and minimize misunderstandings. There are several design reviews that are important to the success of a project. This essay describes one design review that people want to have but should never be allowed.
We have design reviews In [...]

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by Dwayne Phillips
Building systems, managing efforts, raising kids - these and many other worthwhile endeavors can be difficult. I see no good in attempting to make those things sounds easier than they are. The reframe discussed here changes the description of tasks to be attempted.
We will just…
I don’t know how many times I have heard [...]

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by Dwayne Phillips
Estimating budgets months and years into the future is difficult. I have yet to meet anyone who does it well enough to risk large amounts of anything valuable. The Excel spreadsheet calculates well enough, but it can provide a false sense of precision. Instead, I use a slide rule. The difficulty of using [...]

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by Dwayne Phillips
Written rules and regulations restrict us. They also allow us to forget about some hazards and concentrate freely on the problem at hand. Restrictions can permit freedom. The trick is to learn where the areas of freedom exist and how to use them.
A colleague was contrasting the type of people who are sticklers [...]

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by Dwayne Phillips
In a common usage, the word “but” erases all that has been said previously. This is a writing nicety. It is also a bad way to confuse conversation in the workplace.
You have a lot of enthusiasm, but you need to check with me on things like this.
Quick, without looking back, what did the [...]

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by Dwayne Phillips
It is possible to predict the future on projects. It is also possible to change the future on projects. Knowing this second property and how to state it can make a big difference to project stakeholders.
It is possible to predict the future. Given a system-building project that has been planned properly, you can [...]

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