Working Up

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

Working Up header image 4

Entries Tagged as 'Integrity'

No Fun

October 16th, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Sometimes, the better way to do something isn’t as much fun. A few years ago, I wrote a book on software project management. I began the book with the words, “I like to write software.” I did and still do like to write software. I am simulating a machine that does wonderful […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Accountability · Adults · Employment · Fun · Integrity · Software

The Boy Who Cried Wolf and Other Tales of Adulthood in the 2020s

June 9th, 2022 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Please, choose words wisely so that actions will match the words. Yesterday, I was hit with a couple of examples of the Aesop’s fable. The trouble was, these were real life, and a boy wasn’t crying—it was adults jabbering nonsense. I won’t repeat the examples. There is something about these crying-wolf examples […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Expectations · Fable · Honesty · Integrity · Management · Word

Some Thoughts on Restoring Trust

September 16th, 2021 · No Comments

By Dwayne Phillips Restoring trust in something called a shared reality won’t be easy. Or will it be so simple that it won’t be easy? Here is a suggestion. “We’ve lost a shared reality.” I heard this in a recent presentation. I’m afraid I lost the reference, so I cannot give due credit to the […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Ethics · Fable · Integrity · Trust

The Common Person

January 25th, 2021 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Thoughts about all those folks out there who seem to be doing something that the experts don’t like. 1980—it was a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away when I heard a woman telling foreign dignitaries about the common person in America. I didn’t approach her and hit her with […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Appearances · Fairy Tales · Integrity · Observation · People · Respect

Transience and Integrity

December 7th, 2020 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips I guess we haven’t changed much from the day of the snake oil salesman rolling through town with his mule-drawn wagon. There is something about transience and lack of integrity that tend to make the two close partners. If we have transience, we lack integrity. Back in the old days, or at […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Competence · Integrity · Trust

Consuming Someone Else’s Stuff

September 17th, 2018 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Spending resources is far easier when those resources belong to someone else. Return on Investment: what comes back from what I spend. That is a tough thing to consider. Where should I spend my limited resources? Now consider, Where should I spend another person’s resources? Oh, that one is much easier. No […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Accountability · Economics · Influence · Integrity

Not a Good Fit – Part 2

September 12th, 2016 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips The second major explanation of what “not a good fit” means. Now for the second explanation (the first was in the immediately preceding post). This explanation is a bit more complex. Basically, it is the interviewing organization is mismanaged, a.k.a., they don’t know what they are doing. The interviewing organization is overworked. […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Competence · Culture · Integrity · Management

A Big Step to Higher Quality

September 1st, 2016 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips There is a simple step that will push you and yours to produce better goods and services. Want higher quality? Want people to delight in your products? Want to accomplish these and other quality improvement goals without spending any money? Yes, yes, and Y E S! Here it is: Put you name […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Competence · Integrity · Management

Proudly Inefficient

June 8th, 2015 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Sometimes, we just plain do things that are inefficient by choice for the better. Sometimes we are going to do some things where we don’t care about scaling to gain efficiency. Sometimes we won’t video record the talk to play it later to millions of persons. Sometimes we are going to spend […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Authentic · Choose · Integrity · People · Scale

Integrity

April 9th, 2015 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips We all say that we are people of integrity. But are we? I hate to write this blog post. I know I hate to do it because I have been meaning to write it for seven or eight years, but still haven’t done it. Well, here goes. We like to say that […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Integrity · Management · Meetings · Observation