by Dwayne Phillips Although it is rare that all other things are equal, they can be. This is especially true if there is only one person involved and that one person tries hard. It is difficult to keep all other things equal. The goal is to change just one thing, and observe what happens in […]
Entries from August 2014
All Other Things Being Equal
August 28th, 2014 · No Comments
Tags: Change
YAGNI and the Common Core
August 25th, 2014 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips You aren’t going to need it should be applied to the Common Core for education. I now delve into something for which I evidently have no expertise: arithmetic. I also delve into another topic for which I evidently have no expertise: education. Allow me to preface my ignorant rant by writing that […]
Tags: Education
Change the Training
August 21st, 2014 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips We have a #1 response of any bureaucracy in the 21st century. Any time a bureaucracy has a flub up (technical term), the response is the same: We will address this item as we change the training. This is the #1 response to any situation in the 21st century. Gosh. At least […]
Tags: Change · Education · Employment · Thinking
Resistance as a Resource
August 18th, 2014 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips When people resist me, they are telling me something. Am I listening? Dale Emery is an acquaintance of mine. I owe the topic of this blog post to him. See here and here. When people resist me, they are telling me something. That something is valuable information. I can ignore the information […]
Tags: Communication
Mental Concentration and Awkwardness
August 14th, 2014 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Looks are often deceiving. Especially how you look when you are concentrating. Many years ago, a college professor told a calculus class I was in something like, “People think you are wandering the campus absentmindedly when the opposite is true. You are in deep concentration.” I often find myself standing to walk […]
The Perfect Time to Write: When I Don’t Feel Like It
August 11th, 2014 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips The perfect time to write is one of the less expected. I write a lot, everyday, day after day. I am writing now. There are times when people like me don’t feel like writing. Those are the perfect times to write. Here is why. I write a lot because I like to […]
Tags: Writing
Searching for the Digital Assistant
August 7th, 2014 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips A social robot is the last in a long line of attempts at building a digital assistant. Maybe we should just hire people to be personal assistants? I stumbled across this little “social robot.” It talks to you when you talk to it. It makes phone calls for you. It takes pictures […]
Tags: Technology
Watching Competence Evaporate
August 4th, 2014 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Competence evaporates when we are upset. There are some things we can do to work our way back to competence, but they are not easy. I recently watched a group of otherwise competent people behave in a most incompetent manner. They had an excellent excuse as they were under great emotional stress. […]
Tags: Breathe · Competence · Health · Judgment