Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips Managers and leaders should encourage their colleagues. Sometimes the well of compliments runs dry. There is, however, one fundamental compliment that is always appropriate. I was wandering through a new, unfamiliar, and uncomfortable place hoping to find something on which to anchor myself. Then I heard someone call my name. All was […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Adjectives describe our work and the results of our work. Hence, our worked is judged by the adjective. More to the point, our work is described by the person who selects the adjective. ad·jec·tive n.   Abbr. a. or adj. The part of speech that modifies a noun or other substantive by limiting, […]

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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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by Dwayne Phillips Customers don’t always act like responsible customers. Managers don’t always act like responsible managers. This is the real world, and often less-than-adult behavior exists. Sometimes you soothe people by giving them something they really want, even if it isn’t good for them. Here is a true story. I was the engineer. I […]

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by Dwayne Phillips A recent manager wrote his thoughts in the air with his finger. There was some good, some bad, and some annoyances with this habit. But, as with most things people do, there was plenty to learn. I worked on a short project recently where the project manager wrote in the air. To […]

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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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by Dwayne Phillips Most organizations have “magic words.” Utter these words and things happen. If you don’t know the words, work slows and frustration rises. None of this makes any sense, but nonsense continues to exist and often thrives. Years ago, a colleague who lived in a nearby rural area wanted to construct a building […]

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by Dwayne Phillips I dislike most meetings as they are not a time to accomplish work but merely a time to socialize. The worst type of meeting is one that is going to be short. Short meetings waste more time and last longer than any other type of meeting. I dislike the majority of meetings. […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Producing a lot of documentation doesn’t ensure project success. Sometimes, when emphasized incorrectly, a lot of documentation can ensure project failure. Keep in mind the purposes of documentation. This week during one of those little lulls that occur in even the busiest of endeavors, an engineer and I were chatting. For some […]

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by Dwayne Phillips I like writing exercises – things that make me think. I came across a good one today from Kenneth Davis at ManageYourWriting.com. He calls it the Alphabet Shift. choose a word you’ve written beginning with a letter from the first half of the alphabet. Replace it with a more effective word beginning […]

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