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

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Entries Tagged as 'Change'

Change the Future with “Unless”

January 4th, 2010 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips It is possible to predict the future on projects. It is also possible to change the future on projects. Knowing this second property and how to state it can make a big difference to project stakeholders. It is possible to predict the future. Given a system-building project that has been planned properly, […]

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Tags: Change · Communication · Estimation · Management

Magic Words: Up Until Now

December 21st, 2009 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips There are words we can say that change situations and sometimes even our lives. “Up until now” are a few words that can erase reputations from our past. I have learned a few magic words through the years. Say these words aloud, and the situation changes. A few magic words are “up […]

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Tags: Change · Learning · Magic

Adapting and Adaptability

November 16th, 2009 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Situations change and people adapt to those changes. Has adapting to chance taken away your  ability to adapt? Change is constant Okay, that is neither original nor brilliant. It does, however, describe my experiences. Groups of people adapt Another observation that is neither original nor brilliant. What many people fail to observe […]

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Tags: Adapting · Change · General Systems Thinking

Life on the Road; Life at Home

November 9th, 2009 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Traveling – living in and out of motels – is different from living in a home. This differences points to lessons that can improve home life. I recently spent five weeks on the road. Motel after motel, night after night. In the past, I have had jobs where I traveled two and […]

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Tags: Change · Culture

Spending to Reduce (???)

October 26th, 2009 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Projects to reduce work, production, or consumption should reduce costs. This corresponding reduction in costs, however, rarely occurs. Instead, an increase in cost often happens. Please be attentive to what you are doing and watch for this contrary behavior. There are many things than many people want to reduce. Consider body weight. […]

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Tags: Change · Culture · People

Familiar, Comfortable, and (Perhaps) Risk

October 5th, 2009 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips The familiar is comfortable. The comfort, however, sometimes hides risk and impending doom. Take care. I have been on the road for two weeks walking mostly through rural Alabama. This weekend I am in Tuscaloosa. This is a university town, so it differs from most of the places I have been. I […]

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Tags: Change · Communication · Culture · Risk

Staying on Task

August 13th, 2009 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips We spend too much time avoiding some tasks. They are not interesting, praiseworthy, or worthy of note. We simply cannot stay on task. I recommend changing tasks – at least temporarily. There are many benefits to changing tasks. Some benefits apply to the original task. All the benefits apply to me. I […]

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Tags: Change · Health · Learning · Time

Goodbye Cursive

July 29th, 2009 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Handwriting is not dead. It lives on despite the computer age. Cursive, however, is on the way out, and I for one am happy to see it go. (Start writing comments about how bad a person I am) Time magazine mourns the death of handwriting. That is a nice headline, but I […]

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Tags: Change · Communication · Culture · Writing

Time in Markets (and other places, too)

July 20th, 2009 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips It is easy to draw incorrect conclusions on cause and affect in organizations. One of the major reasons for these bad conclusions is time. Good organizations will succeed and bad ones will fail in time. I have yet to find a way to predict how much time that is. Google is in […]

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Tags: Change · Culture · Time

Time to do Something Else

May 8th, 2009 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips I did a lot of research on the Internet this week at work. I can’t mention the topics I researched, but I was researching for a good four days. It isn’t surprising to reveal that the information available on the net is astounding. Google is a great tool. The same is true […]

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Tags: Change · Culture