Working Up

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

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Accelerate the Learning

October 19th, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Learning is good as it leads to better performance and other beneficial things. There are tools available that accelerate learning. Let’s use those. I try to learn. Sometimes I forget to learn. Yes, fatigue clobbers my mind and I simply forget to notice things, store them, and use them. There are tools […]

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Tags: Competence · Energy · Fatigue · Growth · Humility · Improvement · Learning · Thinking · Tools

The Stupid Hunters (still hunting down stupid everywhere)

May 8th, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Aha! I was sort of right. Now companies have teams of folks hunting down stupid in their systems to keep the world safe from stupid. Way back in 2015, I wrote a blog post about being a stupid hunter. This is not a hunter who is stupid, but a hunter whose job […]

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Tags: Analysis · Artificial Intelligence · Competence · Stupid · Systems · Technology · Testing · Visibility · Work

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 […]

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Tags: Accountability · Artificial Intelligence · Competence · Computing · Excuses · Technology

The Editor

December 19th, 2022 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips This post is about the person who edits. Most organizations no longer employ an Editor, and that practice is fraught with imminent peril. Consider The Editor: An Editor is a professional who is the voice of a company, ensuring that all written materials are accurate and of high quality. They work with […]

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Tags: Communication · Competence · Education · Ethics · Writing

The Buddy

May 30th, 2022 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips It helps to have someone standing next to you. This is a simple, old, and often overlooked aid to working better. A buddy is someone standing next to you whom you assume knows what they are doing. Often, a few moments later, you both realize that you both assumed the other is […]

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Tags: Appearances · Competence · Expertise · Group · Improvement · Observation · Other · People

Those Wrist Bands

May 19th, 2022 · No Comments

By Dwayne Phillips We all have a less-than-perfect memory. Let us admit that and use little gadgets that help us remember to do what we know we should do. I keep noticing professional and other high-level athletes wearing giant wrist bands. I guess ”wrist band” is incorrect as these things cover the entire forearm of […]

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Tags: Competence · Help · Humility · Information · Meetings · Notebook · Remember · Simple

How to Write as Fast as You Can Type

April 7th, 2022 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips A writer can write 2,400 words in an hour and thereby finish a novel in 14 days (three weeks). Why don’t we? The average typing speed is 40 words per minute. That is 2,400 words per hour. If you write three hours a day and rest your hands the remainder of the […]

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Tags: Competence · Expertise · Play · Practice · Writing

Do or Do not

January 24th, 2022 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Regardless of position or circumstance, some people do things while others don’t. This appears to be one of those parts of human nature that have puzzled me for years. Given a situation, some persons will talk, think, talk, ignore, and employ just about every verb there is except for the forms of […]

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Tags: Competence · Energy · Management · People · Practice

The Dark Ages at a Personal Level

October 21st, 2021 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips There are tools that help me remember the things I need to remember. They prevent a fall into the Dark Ages. Define Dark Ages: it isn’t that we forget how to do something, it is that we forget than we once could do that. Personal Dark Ages: it isn’t that I can’t […]

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Tags: Competence · Information · Journal · Process · Remember · Tools

Fat Finger the Database (misadventures in data entry)

October 11th, 2021 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Data entry, one of the lower-paid professions, is prone to errors, and some can be fatal. During the aftermath of the recent Hurricane Ida, a person close to me needed an essential service. By “essential” I mean if the service did not arrive, someone would die. I repeatedly called the service provider. […]

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Tags: Competence · Customer · Error · General Systems Thinking · Learning · Mistakes · People · Testing