Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips
Engineers create wonderful things now and then. Oblivious users turn the creations upside down and use them backwards. Such oblivious use teaches great lessons that smart organizations use before going to production.
Engineers have their babies. Not the human kind of baby, though some engineers have those, too, but the system-that-they-create kind of baby. [...]

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by Dwayne Phillips
Technical debt in a system builds as changes are made to the system. At some point, the expense and risk of the next change is prohibitive.
This is the first post I will make about fill-in-the-blank debt. These all go back to the concept of technical debt in a technical system.
Systems that are used [...]

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by Dwayne Phillips
I voted on Tuesday using a paper ballot where I filled an oval with ink to register my vote. This removed one computer from the voting system. I think that was a good thing.
I voted on Tuesday. The voting place near my home in Northern Virginia used paper ballots. This felt a bit [...]

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by Dwayne Phillips
Some days it rains - literally and figuratively. Have a plan that provides a way to make use of the time.
I have been outdoors all day recently while taking a walk. Guess what? Some days it rains. Sitting in the office back in Northern Virginia we would look out the window now and [...]

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by Dwayne Phillips
Much has changed in computers in the past 30 years. Something that has not changed is that the input/output part of the computer is paramount. See, for example, the iPhone computer.
It was in the dark ages of computing back in 1978. I was taking a class in assembly language programming for the IBM [...]

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by Dwayne Phillips
eBooks are taking over the world. Well, they won’t finish off the published paper books this weekend, but the trend is there. As with most things, I see some good and some bad in this.
I think it is good that college textbooks are becoming available in digital form. Pay $10 for a PDF [...]

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by Dwayne Phillips
My grandson taught me about the physical limitations of eBook readers. Those limitations are real. This points me back to the best use of eBook readers - holders of workplace documentation. I wish we would go back to the projection glasses that people tried a couple of decades ago. I guess the market [...]

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by Dwayne Phillips
Some system developments take a long time and drain people. You walk in to work and there is no energy. A demonstration of capability is one way to awaken people and bring focus to a project.
Several years ago, I was working with about a hundred people on a large ($100 million) project. We [...]

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by Dwayne Phillips
Games can be great teaching instruments. Some people are able to use computer games as education tools. Computer games, however, are costly to create. Simulations of real life can be created with far fewer resources. I recommend two places where you can experience such simulations.
I just finished reading an article about education through [...]

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by Dwayne Phillips
I have seen many “critical” systems built with commercial products that are available at the mall, Best Buy, Circuit City, you name them. The result can be disastrous. Please be careful.
About ten years ago I worked on a small project that built a data link. We were sending short, simple text messages through [...]

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