Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips Plans are significant things. We produce them with significant effort. Otherwise, we are merely chatting about our hopes, dreams, and wishes. Person A: We have a plan for that. Person B: Great. May I see it? Person A: What do you mean? Person B: Your plan. May I see it? May I […]

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by Dwayne Phillips A few thoughts on an item that has been forgotten in the workplace and society in general, the Memorandum for the Record.   Question: Can you believe what just happened? We should tell somebody. Somebody needs to know this. What do we do?  Answer: Write a Memorandum for the Record or MFR.  Follow-up […]

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by Dwayne Phillips We are here, we want to be there. The words we use to describe these places has much to do with the journey. We have a massive project. I have to write just ten lines of Python code. It’s the same. We start at one point and want to reach another point. […]

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by Dwayne Phillips There is something called the “hope nothing” meeting. In it, I hope nothing comes up that causes me pain, effort, and general angst. Hope nothing meetings are pleasant, but can be deadly. I sit in meetings. People tell me things. Sometimes they tell me things that cause me work. Sometimes they tell […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Sometimes we want to clarify what we have written. Adding to the end (a few words onto a sentence, a few sentences onto a paragraph, a few paragraphs onto a chapter, etc.) works, but is merely an ugly band-aid. Rewrite instead. I did tripped again this morning. I wrote a sentence that […]

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by Dwayne Phillips A fundamental question of each of us is, “Do I want someone else to understand?” If yes, great effort may be required. If no, keep moving. I work with other persons. Nothing unique there, but I am fortunate in that most of these others are really smart and are working on the […]

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by Dwayne Phillips In addition to hearing the message, pay attention to the meta-message. A few years ago, I wrote here about stop listening—cautiously—and start teaching. This current post regards stop listening to the individual words; pay attention to the meta-message or the message about the message. Someone comes to me with anger. They don’t […]

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by Dwayne Phillips The person asking the questions drives the conversation. Take care when inviting such. “Any questions?” asked many confident, but somewhat ignorant persons. The person asking the questions drives the conversation. “What about the color of the coffee cups?,” asked someone. “Er, but I want to show you our new fill-in-the-blank,” replied the […]

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by Dwayne Phillips It is often necessary but seldom practiced that a high-ranking person takes the time to tell everyone else what is happening and why. Let’s call this “micro communicating.” Consider what I shall call “micro communicating.” I found this practice, not the term but the practice, many years ago. An executive-level person was […]

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by Dwayne Phillips In bad times, the storyteller will always have a job. Someone famous said this, I don’t remember who. Look at Hollywood in the great depression. Look at polarized, fussy America today. It began in 2016 during the (un)presidential campaign and continues. The Hallmark Channel makes predictable romantic movies. Their ratings are up […]

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