Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips Take care how we state the requirements for a database. A spot on the floor often meets the requirements. I attended a meeting recently wherein a senior official with a long, impressive title stood in front of a crowd of several hundred persons and spoke at length (three hours). A major part […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Once again, we observe that physics—notably gravity—wins. Sometimes I venture outside the suburbs of Federal Virginia go into “downtown” Washington D.C. I see them, those funny-colored little skateboards with handles. These are the eScooters or whatever we choose to call them this week. They have little electric motors and speed pedestrians (I […]

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by Dwayne Phillips No new materials. A simple pressing. Structure appears. Value from almost nothing. This is a primary task of a manager (and the rest of us). Fold something. Press the fold. It becomes a crease. And now there is a structure that has strength and increased utility. And how did that happen? A […]

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by Dwayne Phillips We tend to allow others to use us freely. A simple example. About every ten years I buy a new automobile. Yes, I am “cheap,” and yes, today’s automobiles are built well enough to drive efficiently for ten years or more. After buying my last automobile, I arrived at home and noticed […]

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by Dwayne Phillips When assessing a system, remember the correct order of tasks, and always remember that persons are involved in any system that matters. When assessing a system, proceed to: Observe Learn Converse Please, do these tasks in this order. This is especially recommended when persons are part of that system, and persons are […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Jumping from one thing to the next may appear to be a lack of focus when it really is a lack of foresight. We’re working on this great thing. It took longer than we thought to build it. As we came close to finishing, rats, we quit because we realized that this […]

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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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by Dwayne Phillips Sometimes I wonder what smart people are doing. They must have something happening behind the scenes because smart people can’t be this stupid. I recently sat in an airliner for about 20 hours during a couple days time. In my past, I did this frequently, but not so much lately. A couple […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Often, perceptions and other ghosts cause us to believe things. Go back to a fundamental question. The world is coming to an end. Nothing is right. Everyone is against this. What else have I told myself? What else did I “know?” All were hunches, perceptions, gut feel, and such. Sigh. All is […]

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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 […]

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