Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips Pulling information from colleagues can sometimes seem like pulling teeth. Why don’t they tell me what they are doing? Because “they” can’t read “my” mind. They don’t know what I feel is important today, what my boss is pinging on me for today. I have to ask. I have to pull the […]

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by Dwayne Phillips If we can’t provide a simple representation of a system, perhaps we have a mess and not a system. A: Can you draw me a picture of this? Something that shows how all the parts fit together? B: Uh, well, no. No one has ever asked for such. A: Well, I’m new […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Sometimes you are best served and serving if you ignore a request or two. Me: The thing the boss just asked for, what is it? How do you do it? Older Co-worker: What? Oh never mind. Me: But the boss wants it, real quick, it is important. Right? Older Co-worker: Forget about […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Sometimes I fill the role of the “just notice-er.” Perhaps that should be an official title in systems development. I was preparing a demonstration of software we developed in house. Something wasn’t happening as I expected. I asked a couple of the programmers to look over my shoulder. “Look at this,” I […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Drop the “but.” It erases all previous words. Use a period instead. I said: I don’t want to hurt you feelings, but, we need to change how we do things here. He heard: we, actually YOU, need to change how we do things here. Funny how the word “but” works in conversation. […]

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