Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips Things are the way they are. But why? An old saying explains much of the reason. There is an old but little known saying, “Things are the way they are because they got that way.” Pause to consider. Yes, of course the saying is correct. We are here because everything and everyone […]

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by Dwayne Phillips When we build systems, build them to do and have no more and no less than we intend. A few pseudo definitions: The users says, “I want a system that does this and that is and like this and that.” The builders say among themselves, “We can do those things and a […]

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by Dwayne Phillips It is important to remember whose words we are discussing. If you mentioned something, we are discussing your words. If I mentioned something, we are discussing my words. There are ways to back away from our words. I read the words from the PowerPoint. They were wrong. Simply wrong. 1 + 2 […]

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by Dwayne Phillips A basic questions that managers should ask above the noise and bustle of the day. Every group needs a person who asks a nagging question or two every day or week or month or two. Is this working? Of course this is working. What do you think? We are all busy; we […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Despite what I have noticed the past couple of years, declaring an emergency does not allow us to do whatever we want. I’ve noticed something about folks and those emergency flashers on automobiles. If you turn on your emergency flashers, you can do anything you want. Great things these emergency flashers, huh? […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Some of the worst mistakes I make are my mistakes about my mistakes and the corrections of my mistakes. Confused? Most of us are. We all make mistakes. Sorry to write that, but it is true. Then we make meta mistakes. These are mistakes about our mistakes and the corrections of our […]

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by Dwayne Phillips We seem to be far more tolerant of technical failures. When I was a kid (we played baseball in the streets and things like that), I often heard the excuse, “The computer is down.” That excuse brought all sorts of grievous vexation that excuses usually bring. It was recognized as an excuse […]

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by Dwayne Phillips We know the answers. We have the information. Can we access it? More importantly, can you access it? We have the data silo. Some call it the data stovepipe. Some call it the sandbox. Others call it job (in)security. Enough of the metaphors and cliches. We have the information. I can find […]

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by Dwayne Phillips I finally did it—I spilled a cup of coffee on my computer (first time ever over 40 years). A few lessons learned. After 40+ years of using my own personal computer, I spilled a cup of coffee on my current Apple MacBook Air. After a couple of hours, the coffee saturated the […]

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by Dwayne Phillips When my work is done, my day is done. That is what I want. Really? Caution. That leads down a perilous path. I work from home most of the time. This pandemic and such and other factors mean that I don’t have an office in the building. I can go to the […]

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