Working Up

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

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Entries Tagged as 'Breathe'

Everybody Is Chattering (not)

May 25th, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Let’s curb our enthusiasm about these chatbots and large language models multiplying productivity and costing jobs. I just saw another article about how ChatGPT and the like are being used in yet another field of endeavor with giant gains in productivity. We won’t need half the people we have in the office […]

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Tags: Artificial Intelligence · Breathe · Change · Chaos · Fear · General Systems Thinking · Knowledge · Learning

Sometimes I Don’t Take the Podium

February 6th, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips I like to speak in front of audiences. I like to take the podium and talk. Sometimes, however, I don’t take the podium. Sometimes, I need another person to stand in the way and say, “No, not today.” I recently attended a memorial service for someone who died. Close family members stood […]

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Tags: Breathe · Clarity · Decide · Fatigue · Health · Honesty · Humility · Permission

Why Persons Don’t Become Vaccinated and How to Convince Them to be Vaccinated

August 19th, 2021 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Many persons want many other persons to become vaccinated. Their methods, however, are achieving the opposite. “Become vaccinated,” is an oft-heard cry. (Actually, I read “get vaccinated” which brings cringes of pain to those of us who know the meaning of words.) And there are many who do not get the vaccine […]

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Tags: Breathe · Communication · Conversation · Health · Listening · Patience · Please · Respect · Science · Virus

Thank You for Helping, but Enough is Enough

August 2nd, 2021 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Kind, caring, helping persons tend to keep going to be more kind, caring, and helpful. Delete the last part. I have met many kind, caring, and helpful persons, who love others. They speak and write and teach in all forms to convey helpful information. They want to be helpful, to ensure others […]

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Tags: Breathe · Brevity · Clarity · Communication · Help · Respect · Time

The Uninvested Assistant

March 18th, 2021 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips When problems occur in complex online presentations, those involved struggle to fix the problems. They are invested in the presentation. That investment inhibits thinking. Always bring along an uninvested assistant. I have participated in countless ZoomerTeamer meetings in the past year. Some were simple—a daily chat with a small team of colleagues. […]

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Tags: Breathe · Fear · Judgment · Problems · Thinking

Let’s Not Tell Them…

December 12th, 2019 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips When we say, “Let’s not tell them (this yet)…” We have learned exactly what we should tell “them” first. There are the hushed tones. “In this meeting, we want to get across these things, but let’s all keep in mind that we don’t want to tell them about…” This is one variation […]

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Tags: Breathe · Communication · Fear

Don’t Try Too Hard

December 13th, 2018 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Some of the best advice I ever heard and heeded is simply, “Don’t try too hard.” Writing. Studying. Researching. Don’t try too hard. Writing: let it come out of you. When you hit a difficult spot, type “this is a difficult spot, come back later.” Done. Now keep banging away on the […]

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Tags: Breathe · Clarity · Consulting · General Systems Thinking

What have You Seen or Heard…

March 1st, 2018 · No Comments

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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Tags: Analysis · Breathe · Clarity · Knowledge

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

Don’t Try Too Hard

October 30th, 2017 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Sometimes we simply try too hard when applying what we already know in small doses suffices. It happened again the other day at work… I needed to know something that I didn’t know. I rushed about frantically screaming to the moon, which is hard to do in the middle of a sunny […]

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Tags: Adults · Breathe · Group · Health · Thinking