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Entries Tagged as 'Communication'

Too Bad They Used a Cliche

February 1st, 2016 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips I wish I knew what they meant, but, unfortunately, they used a cliche. Oh, what a cute cliche. I wonder what the writer actually meant. I’ll never know because the writer used that cliche instead of words with meaning.

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Tags: Clarity · Communication

Lie to Everyone but Me

January 11th, 2016 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips If someone could overcome the scientific and logical barriers to backdoors to encryption systems, they would still face one of trusting liars. Many of our elected representatives want our technology companies to build encryption systems with “backdoors.” (Here is a link to one story of such.) These magical backdoors would permit the […]

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Tags: America · Communication · Engineering · Government · Privacy · Security

Can You Type?

December 31st, 2015 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips People ask questions about what they understand. Their questions tell you about them, not about the stated subject of the conversation. A few years ago in the last century, I once interviewed for an engineering job. At the time I had a BS, MS, and PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering. The […]

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Tags: Communication · Culture

Systems Analysis or “How’s Your Analytical Skills?”

December 28th, 2015 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Questioned if I noticed little patterns in the data, I asked back about little tools. Several decades ago, I interviewed for a job in some sort of computer center that processed some sort of data. The descriptions were intentionally vague because the person speaking to me felt that it was all too […]

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Tags: Analysis · Communication · General Systems Thinking · Systems

Not Deciding, Just Talking (Learning)

December 24th, 2015 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Some of the more productive things to do in a group of persons is to talk through scenarios. No decisions, just learning. I am a decider. I think the term from Myer-Briggs is “Judging.” Present the alternatives, decide, move on. That is what I do. There are times, however, when it is […]

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Tags: Communication · Meetings

Apologies

December 10th, 2015 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips We never have time to to it right, but we always have time to do it again. The summary above is an old cliche or common sense or something. The trouble with common sense is that it is usually common sense and rarely common practice. (Is that another cliche?) Gosh. How many […]

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Tags: Communication · Competence · Excuses

Logical Implication, Lying, and Distrust

December 5th, 2015 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips I explore another aspect of logical implication and how lying permits people to construct all sorts of crazy stories. Background: If logical implication makes no sense to you, and it made no sense to me for years, I point to two prior blog posts that I hope will help you understand this […]

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Tags: Adults · Authentic · Communication · Government

If We Tell Him, He’ll Get Mad

October 8th, 2015 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips People are free to choose their reactions to events. I am included in “people.” We all are. I don’t know how many times I have heard the phrase that is the title of this post. There are countless variations: You tell him that! That’s easy to say when s/he isn’t around. The […]

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Tags: Adults · Breathe · Choose · Communication

Software Developers

September 7th, 2015 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips This is yet another job title that is constantly misused by recruiters. Software Developer: another stupid job title that reveals the ignorance of those trying to hire people. Yes, I am a software developer. No I don’t have ten years Java programming experience. Are you trying to hire a programmer or a […]

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Tags: Communication · Programming · Work

Lying and Liars

August 31st, 2015 · No Comments

by  Dwayne Phillips Verbs sometimes lead to nouns. Some of which we should seek to avoid. If you lie, you become known as a liar. That verb leads to that noun. Funny how that works. Once you are a liar, can you erase that? Can you do anything to remove that noun from you. Perhaps […]

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Tags: Communication