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

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Entries Tagged as 'Planning'

The Landmark

March 18th, 2024 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Meet me at the big oak tree outside of town at dusk. They said something like that in the old Westerns. It makes sense to still do this. There was always a showdown or something in the old Westerns. The big oak tree a mile outside of town at dusk. How did […]

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Tags: Agreement · General Systems Thinking · Planning · Time · Urgent

Rehearsing for the Rehearsal

August 28th, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips There is the meta-plan or the plan about the plan. There is the meta-rehearsal or the rehearsal for the rehearsal. There are many other meta-this-and-that. They are quite useful. My wife and I have been married since 1983 (40 years as of the writing of this post). I recall our wedding rehearsal. […]

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Tags: Learning · Management · Patterns · Planning · Practice · Process · Review · Success · Thinking · Work

Emergency Flashers

March 23rd, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Despite what I have noticed the past couple of years, declaring an emergency does not allow us to do whatever we want. I’ve noticed something about folks and those emergency flashers on automobiles. If you turn on your emergency flashers, you can do anything you want. Great things these emergency flashers, huh? […]

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Tags: Accountability · Appearances · Emergency · Planning

Where are We Going? (Linear Regression)

December 6th, 2021 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Linear Regression is an old, basic technique to predict the future given the past. It seems that its utility has been forgotten by many. How did we get here? Why didn’t anyone see this coming? These are a couple questions I heard recently when groups of persons gathered to discuss … well, […]

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Tags: Accountability · Analysis · Change · Data Science · Economics · Estimation · Hope · Planning

We Knew What We Were Doing, Right?

November 4th, 2021 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips We are almost always uncertain. That is why we should plan key decision points. “We knew what were were doing, right?” asked one of the decision makers after everything collapsed. “Well, it sounded good when we started,” replied another one of the decision makers after everything collapsed. No, sorry, we didn’t know […]

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Tags: Decide · Knowledge · Management · Planning · Resources · Time

Do that Tomorrow, Too

October 7th, 2021 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips A phrase to add to every assignment or action item or anything that goes on a “to do” list. Years ago, author and consultant Jerry Weinberg gave an assignment to attendees of his writing seminar. It was something like: Think of what you should write today. Write that. Do that tomorrow, too. […]

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Tags: Change · Decide · Experiment · Growth · Planning · Self · Simple

The Next (Logical) Question

March 25th, 2021 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips The path to solution is often found in the next (logical) question. Person A: How much will this cost? Person B: I don’t know? Person A: When will you know? Person B: Uh, I don’t know that either? Person A: What will you need to do so that you know? Person B: […]

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Tags: Ideas · Learning · Planning · Questions

We May Never See 2024

March 22nd, 2021 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Three years from now may never come. “I don’t want to be ‘locked into’ company A because company B may have a better offering in three years. We need to be able to shift to company B.”—a well-meaning advisor. In three years, the world may be different. Let’s remain agile. Let’s keep […]

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Tags: Agility · Clarity · Expectations · Planning

The First Step

October 8th, 2020 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips The first step, if taken carefully, eliminates almost all other directions from consideration and frees the mind for everything else. I’ve read about trackers, i.e., those persons who are assigned to find someone who is lost. They find people lost in the woods. The most important thing the tracker does is to […]

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Tags: Clarity · Leadership · Management · Planning

Hopes, Dreams, Wishes, and Plans

April 2nd, 2020 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Plans are significant things. We produce them with significant effort. Otherwise, we are merely chatting about our hopes, dreams, and wishes. Person A: We have a plan for that. Person B: Great. May I see it? Person A: What do you mean? Person B: Your plan. May I see it? May I […]

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Tags: Communication · Conversation · Planning