by Dwayne Phillips When someone is quite specific in what they convey, they often mean the opposite. “I will inject some humor here,” often means that nothing funny will be said. “I don’t care about the money,” often means that I really do care about the money coming my way. “We are transparent here,” often […]
Entries from July 2024
Specifics Usually Mean the Opposite
July 29th, 2024 · No Comments
Tags: Authentic · Communication · Expectations · Respect · Trust
In Praise of Embarrassment
July 25th, 2024 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips I am happy to learn that embarrassment still exists. We still aspire. I recently read an article about how people are not asking Siri and the like questions in public by voice. They type the questions instead of saying them aloud. They are a bit embarrassed to let other people hear their […]
Tags: Adapting · Appearances · Improvement · Self · Simple · Talk · Thinking · Visibility
Let the Marketplace Decide
July 22nd, 2024 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Let’s stop hyperventilating about this and that AI thing. The marketplace will decide and with more wisdom than myself. I just read yet another article about yet another artificial super-duper large language model. How can a model of something be larger than the something? Isn’t a model a smaller representation of something? […]
Tags: Choose · Decide · Design · Error · General Systems Thinking · Systems
The Upside Down Expertise Pyramid
July 18th, 2024 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips We often have the experts looking up at someone atop the pyramid who simply doesn’t know much of what they are saying. There is supposed to be an expertise pyramid. The lone person atop the pyramid has more expertise than all those below. That is how the person reached the top of […]
Tags: Baseline · Culture · Expertise · General Systems Thinking · Government · Systems
Learning to Solve Problems
July 15th, 2024 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Show it, break it, fix it, make it better. My two older grandchildren were at my house recently. They are both teenagers now. The older was showing the younger a game that the older programmed. The younger tried an example that broke the game. Angst, frustration, embarrassment, etc. Then the older set […]
Tags: General Systems Thinking · Improvement · Problems · Solutions · Systems
Choosing the Problem
July 11th, 2024 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips For those who have the resources to choose the problems for those who can solve them, please, choose wisely. Smart scientists, engineers, and problem solvers abound. Well, maybe not abound, but given the population of the earth, there are millions of these folks. What problems are they trying to solve? Rocket engines? […]
Tags: Choose · Problems · Requirements · Resources · Solutions
Communications Channels and Checks
July 8th, 2024 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Let not check a communications channel using that same communications channel. It is pretty silly to do so. Since the great pandemic of the early 2020s, I have been part of countless ZoomerTeams meetings. Almost every one starts with, “Can everyone hear me?” Let’s pause and think. If a participant cannot hear […]
Tags: Appearances · Clarity · Communication · Conversation · Respect · Thinking
Happy Birthday, America
July 4th, 2024 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Once again, America is still here. I guess the Peter Principle explains our situation as the founders seemed to understand that. Once again we come to the anniversary of the founding of this grand experiment we call America. This is an election year, and those of who who can still think have […]
Tags: America · General Systems Thinking
The Hero and the System We Really Use
July 1st, 2024 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Sometimes the system we really use is not the system we tell people we use. “This system won’t work,” said the person whose job it was to analyze a system. But, the system works, i.e., the group of persons using the system that won’t work seem to get along just fine. In […]
Tags: Analysis · Fear · General Systems Thinking · Management · Systems