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

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Entries from May 2018

The One or Two Question to Always Ask

May 31st, 2018 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips I can’t seem to think of the right questions at the right time. There are a couple of questions that I can always ask to compensate. I sit with someone trying to learn something from them. I ask; they answer, and we repeat. Our time together ends. Fifteen minutes later, after we […]

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Tags: Questions

Improve What You Touch

May 28th, 2018 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Confronted with a big mess? What do you fix first? What order? Try this suggestion. I once entered a job where everything was a mess. Chaos? Well, I won’t write that chaos reigned as that implies there was some order someplace. I found none. It was a mess, where to start? I […]

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Tags: Analysis · Improvement · Work

The Livelihood Provider

May 24th, 2018 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips When building and maintaining a system, the fundamental question is, “Whom am I trying to please?” This post offers a different answer. User, Customer, Manager, Boss? What do I call the person I am trying to please when building or maintaining a system? Whom am I trying to please? Here is a […]

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Tags: Customer · User · Work

But How Does It Work for the User?

May 21st, 2018 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Try to test the system as the user would use it. This isn’t easy, but it is necessary. We tested this!!! Great. On what machine? In what room? In what area of the world? At what time? Under what conditions? Do the answers to these and other questions resemble what the user […]

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Tags: Testing

Questions That Have No Good Answers

May 17th, 2018 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips One way to stay out of trouble. Twin girls. You date one of them. Someone comes up to you and asks, “So, you tried to date the pretty one, but she said no and you have this one?” There is no good answer. Do you still beat your wife? No good answer. […]

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Tags: Questions

Which People are Important to Me?

May 14th, 2018 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips “Are you a people person?” is one of the most moronic questions ever asked. What is more important to me, people or projects? What is more important to me, people or products? People or things? These are silly questions. If a building is on fire, and I can only save a product […]

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Tags: People · Questions

But We’re Tough (not)

May 10th, 2018 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips The claim of greater “better-ness” and ensuing failure seem to associate frequently. There is an old story of programmer who coded for six hours. Then, instead of going home, the programmer coded two more hours and made enough mistakes in those two hours that it took the rest of the week to […]

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Tags: Adults · Expectations · Fatigue · Humility

Hiding in the Bathroom

May 7th, 2018 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Hiding from bad news is a common situation. I had to realize, however, that worse than bad news was no news. Yes, I did this. I was managing a project where I would hide in the bathroom. Everything was awful. The only place I could go and not hear terrible news was […]

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Tags: Communication · Failure · Information · Reframe

Flowers, Chocolate, and Accomplishing Work

May 3rd, 2018 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Sometimes the way to accomplish more sooner is to acknowledge the person and wait until later. A short but true story: We were short of persons in one particular skill category at work. Work piled up. We were waiting, mostly impatiently. Finally, a new person arrives in that skill category. All of […]

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Tags: Adults · Authentic · Work