Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips “Dot Notation” has some nice things going for it. Let us not, however, believe that it is object-oriented programming. “We do object-oriented programming,” said proud practitioner, project manager, and recruiter. “Believe us,” they all added. Silly me. I did believe these well-meaning folks. Time teaches. class-name DOT function-name See? Object-oriented programming (oop). […]

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by Dwayne Phillips We like to hold really big events. What is their purpose? Who benefits? How might we do them differently? We like to hold really big events where a throng gathers and one person (who is really important) stands up in front and talks. I know we like to do this because we […]

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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 For some reasons, large portions of the population believe that the person who speaks last wins the argument. He had the last word. That settles it. Does it really? Does the last person who says anything pronounce the conclusion? “Water freezes at 33 degrees F.” I can shout that over and over […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Don’t like micro managers? Who does? Beware, however, the built-in excuses of the hands-off manager. “I give you a task. I expect it to be done.”—the charge of the hands-off manager. Who wouldn’t want to work for the person above? Freedom to use my own judgement and do what I think is […]

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by Dwayne Phillips I forget the fundamental requirement of knowledge management. Maybe that was it. I recently met a person who declared that she took great joy in formatting Microsoft Word documents. She loved they way she could align everything on the page and mis-align a few things in just the right places. This person […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Things, even food, are much easier to carry than people. What does that say about us? Uber and others have discovered that it is far more profitable to carry meals than to carry the consumers of meals. People can be such a nuisance. We want the car to have the right odor, […]

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by Dwayne Phillips We have moved from “everyone is a censor” to “everyone is a reporter.” All these reporters work for me, and the rest of us, for free. In our not-too-distance past, we entered the age of “everyone is a censor.” Everyone had a camera in their pocket. Everyone had a thermometer in their […]

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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 Great ideas have a different and necessary perspective when I look at another person and say the words aloud. The man with 30 years experience and accolades as an expert in his field sat across the table from me. He looked me in the eye and, before he opened his mouth, had […]

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