Working Up

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

Working Up header image 4

Entries from November 2017

The One-Person Silo

November 30th, 2017 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips We all like to have something we can call our own. We like to work on something and say, “I did that!” We have to decide if one of us is smarter than all of us. In Agile Development, somehow the team meets and decides on a new feature or fix for […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Adults · Respect · Synergy · Trust · Work

On Second Thought

November 27th, 2017 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Often it is not the thought that counts but the second thought that really counts. I got a great idea! Wow! Here we go. Two days later…well, that wasn’t such a great idea. It was a good idea, but after a good meal, a bit of exercise, some time doing something completely […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Thinking · Time

Systems Engineering and Social Media

November 23rd, 2017 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips The recent rash of misuse and abuse of social media reminds us of that old, boring practice called systems engineering and limiting systems to do only what they are supposed to do. Recent news reports point to all sorts of “misuse” and “abuse” of social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. These […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Engineering · General Systems Thinking · Requirements · Systems

Scope and Influence

November 20th, 2017 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Regardless of the size and scope of an organization, we all have to opportunity to learn from and pass along learnings to the few persons we meet each day. Naive? Perhaps, but worth a try. I currently work for an organization that has over 100,000 persons in it. Of course that size […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Influence · Learning

We Don’t Need Permission…

November 16th, 2017 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Some of us don’t want to stretch things at work. Stretching can create tension, and tension is, well, tense. It is okay. Go ahead and do it. I wish I remember where I was when I first heard or read the statement, You don’t need permission to do your job well. I […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Change · Management · Permission

Great Ideas

November 13th, 2017 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Great ideas are all about us. We just have to notice. Sometimes we have to assign someone to be the notice-er. There is something I have noticed about great ideas, i.e., the ideas that make our days better and make it easier to sleep at night: Great ideas come from unexpected places […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Ideas

and Why Not

November 9th, 2017 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips We can’t do this, too. Why not? Let’s do one thing each day that moves us towards that. This is the kind of thing that Seth Godin writes. I don’t write this kind of thing. And why not? I don’t know how to do it I’d be stealing from him It isn’t […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Change · Decide

Let’s Draw a Picture

November 6th, 2017 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips An old technique that always surfaces confusion and moves us towards clarity. Me: Let’s draw a picture of this so I can understand it better. Person A: We don’t need to waste time with that. We all know what it is. …a little while later… Person A: See, we set it up […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Analysis · Communication · Learning

An Interaction Exercise

November 2nd, 2017 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Here is a simple exercise you can use with your team to learn something about how well you work together. Step 1: Get a deck of playing cards. Step 2: Hand every person on your team some cards. Hand some person a couple of cards and hand some persons a dozen cards. […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Communication · Consulting · Group · Management · Meetings