Working Up

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

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Entries from July 2016

Silence is Agreement (not)

July 28th, 2016 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Sometimes we operate our meetings and our groups with stupid, unspoken rules. Silence is agreement This is one of the things I was told as a much younger person on the job. If I didn’t object loudly in a meeting, I had agreed. Really? Says who? What was that about? I suppose […]

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Tags: Communication · Meetings

Technology Triggers

July 25th, 2016 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Knowing, ahead of time, when to change the design of a technology system. Consider: We have software running on different computers. We don’t have much electrical power available for computers “out in the field,” i.e., they probably run on batteries. Hence, we move heavy computations to lab computers where electrical power is […]

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Tags: Choose · Design · Technology

Management???

July 21st, 2016 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips We have yet another case where a manager failed to perform the job title, but someone else was fired. This is an interesting story. A software tester wrote some software to run all the tests. The tester didn’t have anything to do, so the tester sat around for five years twiddling thumbs. […]

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Tags: Management

The New Architect and the Old Designer

July 18th, 2016 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips I am again disappointed in job titles, but at least I learn some new lingo. Architecture = Design (noun) Architect (noun, person) = Designer (noun, person) Solutions Architect = Solutions Designer (well, that else would you design but a solution?) Then we have the verb form… to architect =  to design (verb) […]

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Tags: Clarity · Communication · Design · Employment

The History-Story Gap

July 14th, 2016 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips There is often a gap between our history and our story about our history. I suppose, since most of us are not famous, that is okay. We have experiences—those comprise our history. Then we tell people a story about those experiences. Sometimes the stories enhance the histories. Barack Obama has some doozies. […]

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Tags: Communication · Excuses · Fable · Family · Security · Teaching

The Great Value of Policies

July 11th, 2016 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips This isn’t politics, it is groups of people endeavoring to accomplish something. Give them a gift—policies. A policy is one of the best gifts upper managers can give to an organization. No, I’m not kidding. We have to understand what a policy is and how we use it. A policy is a […]

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Tags: Communication · Expectations · Management

YAC – Yet Another Certification

July 7th, 2016 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips I receive yet another certification. I just passed yet another exam and received yet another certification. Contrary to advertisements, the exam was full of trick questions and didn’t test knowledge of the subject matter. Nevertheless, that is the certification industry, and it is a big $$$ indu$try. I find it a shame […]

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Tags: Certification · Competence · Education · Learning

Happy Birthday America

July 4th, 2016 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips It is great to live in a country where I don’t need a permit or background check or anything to write a blog or go to church where I want or not worry about the Army showing up at my door wanting to house soldiers or… These government actions are prohibited by […]

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Tags: America