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

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Entries from December 2017

Interpersonal Communication for Scientists and Engineers

December 28th, 2017 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips The stereotype of the scientist and engineer is someone who would rather be with technical things than people. Here are a few tips. As an engineer, this holds for scientists as well, there is one fundamental question we must always be prepared to answer (two words): what’cha doin? The answer does not […]

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Tags: Communication

Merry Christmas and Other Special Days

December 25th, 2017 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Recognize special days. And when we starting looking, we will notice there are a lot of special days. Today is Christmas. I work with a lot of people who don’t recognize December 25th as a special day. They have other days that are special in their culture, their childhood, their family. I […]

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Tags: Authentic · Childhood

I’m not Testing, Just Noticing

December 21st, 2017 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Sometimes I fill the role of the “just notice-er.” Perhaps that should be an official title in systems development. I was preparing a demonstration of software we developed in house. Something wasn’t happening as I expected. I asked a couple of the programmers to look over my shoulder. “Look at this,” I […]

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Tags: Communication · Conversation · Notice · Systems · Testing

But This Worked Before!

December 18th, 2017 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Nothing is so cruel as to learn that the system we built doesn’t do what we thought it would. We are good, smart, caring people. We work diligently to build good systems that serve others. We test. We really test—no kidding, no fooling around. We really test. Then one day, someone walks […]

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Tags: Breathe · Learning · Reframe · Systems · Testing · Thinking

I Don’t Want to Hurt Your Feelings, but…

December 14th, 2017 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Drop the “but.” It erases all previous words. Use a period instead. I said: I don’t want to hurt you feelings, but, we need to change how we do things here. He heard: we, actually YOU, need to change how we do things here. Funny how the word “but” works in conversation. […]

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Tags: Communication · Conversation · Word

Grow Your Own Food (not, but)

December 11th, 2017 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips There are a long list of things we could try that would not work, but there may be side benefits for trying. A recent article highlighted what some call agri-hoods where people are trying to live an agriculture life in the outer suburbs. Yes, they are going to grow their own food. […]

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Tags: Learning · Notice · Observation

We Know It’s Broken, but…

December 7th, 2017 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips For some reason (and we have a lot of these reasons), we just let things go when we know better. Yes, that thing doesn’t work right, but you know, we just don’t fix it because… I don’t like fixing things It is someone else’s problem, they broke it or they installed it […]

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Tags: Excuses · Management · People

Stop Listening, Don’t Wonder

December 4th, 2017 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips I write this one with some hesitancy as there is always something to be learned by continually listening. Sometimes, however, listen for meta messages, not the message as the messenger is clearly confused. Sometimes the best thing to do is stop listening—for now. And also, don’t waste time and energy wondering about […]

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Tags: Communication