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Entries Tagged as 'Decide'

Do What Is Best (Or at Least Do What Is Better)

February 26th, 2024 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Sometimes, the better thing to do is let people do what they think is best or at least what they think is better on any given day. “We are a fill-in-the-blank organization. We use best fill-in-the-blank practices as described by fill-in-the-second-blank who described fill-in-the-blank in the seminal blog post on fill-in-the-blank,” said […]

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Tags: Decide · Management · Mistakes · People · Permission · Practice · Reaction

Juggling and Dropping Things

December 28th, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips One key to learning how to juggle is to know how to drop something. The same is true for managing competing priorities and tasks. Just about every “Help Wanted” ad I see has something in it about managing competing priorities or managing multiple tasks. I guess they want someone who can decide […]

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Tags: Adapting · Agility · Chaos · Decide · Jobs · Management · Multitasking

Let’s Do Meetings Better

December 11th, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips We tend to have many meetings—”many” being subjective. Since we do this so often, let try to do it better. I worked for the Federal government for several decades. Government employees meet in groups several times every day. I have also worked for companies on government contracts. We met with the government […]

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Tags: Decide · Improvement · Management · Meetings · Purpose · Simple

Childhood Instructions Carried Into Adulthood

December 4th, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Most of us received many instructions in childhood. Now that we are in adulthood, are we still tying ourselves to instructions meant for children? Here is something I was told as a child (and I have told many children): Look both ways before crossing the street. I still recommend this instruction for […]

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Tags: Adults · Change · Childhood · Decide · Nap · Self

The Data-Centric Organization (At the Grocery Store)

September 14th, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Sometimes we get a bit carried away with this idea of being a data-centric organization or data centricity or data driven or whatever. It seems that everyone wants a data-centric organization (and I don’t like that term because the computer marks it as a misspelled word). We need to have data centricity […]

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Tags: Data Science · Decide · History · Management

Wrong People, Wrong Forum

April 10th, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips In order to accomplish a desired goal, first gather the right people in the right forum. Otherwise, grievous vexation will result. I have something to accomplish. How will I accomplish it? Perhaps I need others to assist. Who? How? What forum? It is easy to have too many people in the room. […]

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Tags: Decide · Design · People · Questions · Thinking

Not This Place and Time

February 23rd, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips The persons who are in this place at this time to decide this thing are usually in the wrong place and time and deciding the wrong thing. Let’s decide. We are the deciders. We are in the deciding position because at some time and place in the past we showed how well […]

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Tags: Choose · Decide · Learning · Mistakes · People · Time

Sometimes I Don’t Take the Podium

February 6th, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips I like to speak in front of audiences. I like to take the podium and talk. Sometimes, however, I don’t take the podium. Sometimes, I need another person to stand in the way and say, “No, not today.” I recently attended a memorial service for someone who died. Close family members stood […]

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Tags: Breathe · Clarity · Decide · Fatigue · Health · Honesty · Humility · Permission

Deciding

December 29th, 2022 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips One of the fundamentals in the engineering of systems and architecture is a “D” word that many loathe in our 21st century. “Let’s hold off on this until we have to decide,” said a hopeful inhabitant of a post-modern universe. Yes, there are things that we don’t have to decide until we […]

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Tags: Choose · Decide · Engineering · General Systems Thinking · Systems

Do Worst First

November 21st, 2022 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Lots of things to do. Which do I do first? Perhaps I go with the worst first. When my sons were little, they had tactics about the order in which they ate their food at dinner. One tactic was “worst first” in which they ate their least favorite food first so that […]

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Tags: Alternatives · Decide · Energy · General Systems Thinking · Work