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Entries Tagged as 'Culture'

Big Government Programs (not)

October 28th, 2013 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Don’t try big government programs. The government doesn’t have the expertise. There have been lots of problems with the new government health care site. What surprises me is that some people are surprised. How can you not build a web site that registers users and takes orders? Amazon and just about everyone […]

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Tags: Culture · Government · Technology

Predictors of the Next Technology

July 25th, 2013 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips My experiences teach me that younger technologists are much better at predicting the future than older technologists. Go back to 2007. I am working in a group that looks at technology trends so we can be ready for the future when it comes. We were considering operating systems for smartphones. The senior […]

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Tags: Adapting · Change · Culture · Technology

DIN – Do It Now

May 27th, 2013 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Once again I attempt to make a million dollars be creating a three-letter acronym – DIN. Some 30 years ago (yes, I am that old), I was pouring myself a cup of coffee at work. On the bulletin board in front of me was an article cut from the newspaper (see ANOTHER […]

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Tags: Culture · Design · Work

We Need More Permission Givers

May 20th, 2013 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips I suffered from this malady much of my life. I had an idea, but I didn’t have permission to do it. When you meet people who are like I used to be, give them permission. That is a really short blog post. Perhaps it should be a tweet or something else, but […]

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Tags: Change · Culture

It’s Interstate All the Way

April 18th, 2013 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Whatever the era, we have our phrases that indicate convenience. And we crave convenience. When I was a kid, way back in the 60s of the 20th century, my family took long trips in the car. The “worst thing in the world” was to be driving a curvy, two-lane road. You would […]

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Tags: Culture · Expectations

Interesting or Stupid?

April 4th, 2013 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Sometimes a fiasco provides an excellent learning opportunity as we can study the group dynamics that led smart people to a stupid place. Then again, the fiasco may just be yet another example of stupidity. “That’s fascinating!” That may be a nice way of saying, “How could a group of such smart […]

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Tags: Culture · Meetings · Problems · Work

The Driver’s License and Alcohol

March 4th, 2013 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips It seems odd that to purchase alcohol a person must show they have a license to operate a motor vehicle. There are things in society that seem odd to me. One is the relationship we have established between obtaining alcohol and having a license to operate a motor vehicle. If you want […]

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Tags: Culture · General Systems Thinking · Health · Judgment · Logic

Apple, Texas Instruments, and the Digital Watch

February 25th, 2013 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips The rumors are that Apple is building a wristwatch. Will they learn from the experience of Texas Instruments? Apple is supposed to be building a wristwatch. Some call it the “iWatch.” Here is just one of hundreds of posts about it. This has happened before: a really smart, really successful tech company […]

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Tags: Culture · Design · Success · Technology

The Core Problem of Gun Control Legislation

February 21st, 2013 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips People on differing sides of the gun control issue are separated by knowledge. Without education, the sides will probably never come together. Gun control legislation is a hot topic in America today. It is almost impossible to have a rational discussion of the issue. The core problem is: knowledge This comes about […]

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Tags: Communication · Culture

Civil Rights Champions: Engineers

February 18th, 2013 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Hurray for the engineers. We are the new champions of civil rights. What happened to the lawyers? What happened to the justice system? There is a new champion of civil rights: the engineers. We understand the flow of information on the Internet and everywhere on earth. We see denial of basic human […]

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Tags: Culture · Technology