Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips Advice is welcome and often heeded in one circumstance: when it is requested. Freely giving advice to the non-requesting tends only to waste energy, time, and emotions. Consultant, author, and friend Jerry Weinberg has written (something like) Most people interpret attempts help as attempts to interfere. This is true for 98.6% of […]

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by Dwayne Phillips The personal computer, the laptop computer, the home computer, the netbook – whatever title we use, they have all become the personal Google machine, i.e., the window into the knowledge of mankind. I live in the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington D.C. Tony Kornheiser, one of those guys on ESPN’s “PTI,”  has […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Sometimes no one will talk to me. There is a big message in the silence. All I have to do is find it. I asked for input, but no one said anything. I’ve heard that a few thousand times. The person is open for advice, criticism, anything from anyone. They are met […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Introduce yourself by name. I was sitting in a meeting that had started five minutes earlier. The person to my right was presiding over the meeting and was talking without pause. I recognized enough of what he was saying to know that I was in the right meeting, but I didn’t know […]

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by Dwayne Phillips This post begins a new series (of undetermined length) about changing the world. Sometimes, all it takes is three people in a crowded room who say, “let’s tell the truth.” The scene is a familiar one, especially if you work in government as people in government sit in more meetings than anyone […]

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by Dwayne Phillips It seems that the most difficult thing for a decision maker to say is “no.” Here are a few stories of efforts that were wasted because when given the opportunity, people could not bring themselves to say “no.” There is something difficult about saying “no.” I don’t quite understand it. Perhaps my […]

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by Dwayne Phillips One of the more difficult tasks is reviewing something written by someone else and providing feedback that will help both the writer and the reader. Here are some things I learned from Jerry Weinberg. In 2004, I attended a writing workshop led by author and consultant Jerry Weinberg. A large part of […]

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by Dwayne Phillips How specific should a system specification be? How many resources should the spec consume? I propose a measure to help answer these questions – the Return on Specification Investment. A few years ago, I was reviewing a specification for a system that someone in the office had written. I came to one […]

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by Dwayne Phillips This one has been buzzing around in my head for a few years. What do you call it when you are trying to write and you need to write words? Words on the page – doesn’t work until you run your printer. Words on the screen – that sort of works, but […]

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by Dwayne Phillips An old lesson holds true today: getting the tools and people to the job site is half the job. Twenty-five years ago, I was involved in a fence-building project. Members of the community gathered to start from scratch and erect a 50-meter-long fence. I was one of the first people there and […]

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