by Dwayne Phillips An apology is just that—an apology. It is neither an explanation nor a justification. Rats! An apology is simple: I did this wrong. I am sorry for that. I ask your forgiveness. An apology does not contain an explanation: I was trying to do such-and-such and … An apology does not contain […]
Entries Tagged as 'Excuses'
Apology
July 31st, 2023 · No Comments
Tags: Accountability · Adults · Authentic · Change · Communication · Conversation · Error · Ethics · Excuses · Honesty
Meta Mistakes
March 9th, 2023 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Some of the worst mistakes I make are my mistakes about my mistakes and the corrections of my mistakes. Confused? Most of us are. We all make mistakes. Sorry to write that, but it is true. Then we make meta mistakes. These are mistakes about our mistakes and the corrections of our […]
Tags: Accountability · Choose · Excuses · Leadership · Learning · Mistakes · Reaction
The Computer is Down
March 2nd, 2023 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips We seem to be far more tolerant of technical failures. When I was a kid (we played baseball in the streets and things like that), I often heard the excuse, “The computer is down.” That excuse brought all sorts of grievous vexation that excuses usually bring. It was recognized as an excuse […]
Tags: Accountability · Artificial Intelligence · Competence · Computing · Excuses · Technology
The Document is a Person
October 28th, 2021 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Some persons know what they want, but they don’t have the resources to tell me. Perhaps they don’t know what they want. Perhaps they have many other reasons for passing me to another person. Perhaps I should just stay away. Do you want to know what I want? Talk to Mr. ABC. […]
Tags: Communication · Excuses · Listening · Management
Of Course They were doing That
July 15th, 2021 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips We sometimes are surprised at what some persons will do. We shouldn’t be. A recent story reminds us of an oft-repeated story: people will do that. Yes, even that. The recent story is about how some persons working at Facebook used their inside administrative privileges to “spy” on other persons. There were […]
Tags: Accountability · Excuses · Leadership · Management · Privacy · Respect
The Age of Algorithms (a convenient excuse)
July 5th, 2021 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Sorry folks, “the algorithm found the answer that I used” is just another excuse. We choose what to do one way or another. “The computer made me do it!” Well, actually it was the algorithm underlying the software that runs on the computer. Hmmm. Who built the computer? Who created the algorithm? […]
Tags: Alternatives · Choose · Decide · Design · Excuses · Tools
Any Excuse, Any Reason
October 26th, 2020 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips When something does not hold up to rational analysis, any excuse or any reason is as good as another. And when no excuse or reason comes to mind now, we will think of something later. A recent xkcd cartoon had a wonderful punchline, “No, for another reason I’ll think of later.” The […]
Tags: Excuses · Myth · Questions · Stories · Teaching
Writing in Tough Times (Let’s Stop Kidding Ourselves)
April 9th, 2020 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Writing is tough on any day. Things now are tough for some of us in some ways on some days. Writing is still tough and still possible. Let’s stop kidding ourselves. I have read a dozen blog posts about “writing in tough times.” These are tough times, right? Well, in some ways […]
Happening and Reasoning
November 25th, 2019 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Everything happens for a reason (or two) or perhaps things happen and we create reasons to explain them. Funny how we often work backwards. Something happens and we proclaim, “I knew it would happen. We had this and that and they are reasons for what happened.” Few say these reasons before the […]
Tags: Estimation · Excuses · Failure · Reaction · Review
Deep Fake Prevention #2
November 7th, 2019 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Technology enables us to fake photos and videos. We can make anyone appear to say and do anything. Preventing such is quite simple. A few months back, I wrote about preventing harm from deep fake videos. That advice was to live in such a way that I could say, “You know me. […]
Tags: Excuses · Expectations · Fun