Working Up

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

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Lower the Bar

November 23rd, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Sometimes we simply have to lower expectations when it comes to what other people will do. Too bad. We can do better. It happened again the other day at work. I needed signatures on paper, or at least the digital equivalent of them. It was all set. Go to this building on […]

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Tags: Accountability · Alternatives · Expectations · Failure · Improvement · People · Work

We Don’t Have Time

November 6th, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips The old saying about not having time to do it once still holds. Perhaps we will learn one day. There is an old saying about not having the time to do something right, but always having the time to do it over and over and over and… I’m not sure who said […]

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Tags: Choose · Communication · Expectations · Time · Work

The Parking Lot Concierge

September 21st, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips This is something we need. Shopping centers, please read. I’ve seen it many times. An adult steps out of their car in the shopping center parking lot. They have two or more small children with them. All the children are strapped into car seats. Let’s see, unbuckle the oldest child first, or […]

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Tags: Adults · Culture · Expectations · Observation · Rest · Security

Someone Else’s Experience

August 21st, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips People have their own experiences. Assuming their experience denies them as a person. Try to avoid such. Each person has their own experience with something. It is often the case that several people have similar experiences. That gives me the luxury of describing some “average” experience and continuing to satisfy the “average” […]

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Tags: Adults · Expectations · Learning · Other · Patience · Self

Increments, Perfection, Fear, Candor, and Pride

February 16th, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Today’s practice of delivering software and systems emphasizes continuous delivery. Today’s practice, however, fails at this. Technology is not the problem. CI/CD is continuous integration and continuous delivery (or deployment). Work everyday. As each little increment of capability is finished, deliver it. Perhaps we deliver every day and perhaps several times every […]

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Tags: Communication · DevOps · Expectations · Experiment · Honesty · Ideas · Leadership · Technology

Next Slide, Please

February 2nd, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips This one is finished. Time for the next one. It too will finish, and another one will come after it. Many years ago as a much younger man, I spoke with a much older and wiser man. He was about to leave an assignment and begin another assignment. He had learned the […]

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Tags: Expectations · Experiment · Growth · Learning · Time

The Explainers

September 19th, 2022 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips We need more explainers. These are persons who answer the question, “Whatcha’ doin’?” Whatcha’ doin’? Hows’it work? How ya’ doin’? These are simple questions. These are the basic questions we ask others all the time. Often, we repeat the question six or seven times in different forms and still don’t receive an […]

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Tags: Brevity · Clarity · Communication · Expectations · Questions

And Why Would They Know That?

September 8th, 2022 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips When assuming that another person already knows something, ask, “And why would they know that?” It happened again the other day at work, someone interrupted a presentation, pointed to something mentioned but not shown, and asked, “But what is that thing? What does it do?” The presenter, unable to hide the aghast […]

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Tags: Communication · Expectations · Knowledge · Learning · Work

Three Pages, a Thousand Words Plus Figures

August 18th, 2022 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Any topic and just about any situation. Please provide three pages that contain a thousand words and several figures. Right or wrong, we reach a point in life and history that we need information on this or that. What format? Try the title of this post. On three pieces of standard-size paper […]

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Tags: Communication · Expectations · Ideas · Information · Language · Writing

Scale or Interest?

August 15th, 2022 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips This solution didn’t scale, so we stopped using it when it hit its limit. Perhaps the actual explanation is that we lost interest in this solution, so we stopped using it when we became tire of it. There are many occasions when a new system works when it is new. Everyone is […]

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Tags: Expectations · Fatigue · Management · Problems · Scale · Solutions