Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips Project managers have various goals. Here is one to consider: the people who work on your project are willing to work on another one. Working on a project can be tough. The requirements change, if there are any requirements. The schedule shrinks, if there is a schedule. Weekends – what are weekends? […]

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by Dwayne Phillips My printed book from FastPencil is in hand. It took about three weeks for FastPencil to transform a PDF file to a paperback book. It is 6″x9″ and 155 pages. Lessons Learned: 10-point font is too small for my eyes I chose a creme paper instead of white, I wish I had […]

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by Dwayne Phillips I hate doing something twice. That leads to disliking short tasks. Short tasks are easy to do all over a second time, especially when someone else decides that they want you to do it again. This may not sound right, but I would much rather have a long, time-consuming task that one […]

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by Dwayne Phillips There is a difference between gifts and contracts. Givers often confuse the two. I just read several blog posts and comments about giving money to “poor” people only to see them half an hour later buying lottery tickets with the money. They givers were incensed as the poor had promised to buy […]

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by Dwayne Phillips People make mistakes. Some mistakes lead to a complete collapse of groups of people. When large, well connected groups fail, others suffer. This happens in national and international economies. It also happens on projects involving only a few persons. There are things that project managers can do to contain the damage from […]

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by Dwayne Phillips I perform better when I feel better. I can decide to feel better thereby improve my performance. Have you ever had the opportunity to (safely) crash someone else’s car? To spin the tires? To do a 180-degree spin? I had the good fortune to do that about 30 years ago. It was […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Frenzied paralysis – so many things in my mind that I cannot do any of them. I make a list to clear my mind and move from paralysis to action. I can’t think. Well, that’s not true. I guess the problem is that I am thinking too much. Well, that is not […]

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by Dwayne Phillips We do things that we know won’t work. I don’t understand why. We do things that we know won’t work. Some examples: The Polygraph: This machine (the lie-detector machine) doesn’t work. People have beat it for decades. That is why polygraph results are not admissible in court. Still, lots of government and […]

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by Dwayne Phillips I have known people, including myself, who have nagging problems. They, including myself, have had those problems for years and have never done anything about them. These problems are handy excuses. Perhaps that is why they, including myself, keep them. I am attending a special event this week. There were a few […]

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by Dwayne Phillips People should use the systems they build. If they don’t who will? A new concept in the military – Optionally Piloted Vehicles – once again raises the issue of using your own systems. “Eat your own dog food.” This is an old saying in computer terms – are computers old enough to […]

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