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Entries Tagged as 'Design'

The Sweet Spot

December 18th, 2014 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Go to the optimum, then back off a quarter turn on the knob. There you are. One principle of technology and systems in general is not to operate at the extreme. Go to the extreme, but move back just a bit towards the ordinary. Odd things occur at the extremes. This behavior […]

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Tags: Design · General Systems Thinking · Ideas · Systems

Great Ideas and Those Who have Them

October 20th, 2014 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips A great idea is merely a requirement; it is not a design. The thinker of the great idea is important, but so is everyone else involved in the endeavor. Allow me to start with a blunt statement: Steve Jobs did not design the iMac, the iPod, the iPhone, and nothing else that […]

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Tags: Design · Ideas · Requirements

Finish the “We Can’t” Statement

October 6th, 2014 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips We often state that we can’t do something. We rarely finish that statement with a reason. The reason usually leads to a solution. Several years ago I was working on a project where we were building a small gadget. The user was to take the gadget outdoors (backyard) and attach it to […]

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Tags: Communication · Design · Problems

How to Instruct People How to do Something

April 10th, 2014 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips I point back to a classic but little-known work on instructing people how to do something. Way back in time in the mid-1980s (yes, I am that old), I stumbled onto a book written by Edmond H. Weiss titled How to Write a Usable User Manual. I thought it was a basic […]

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Tags: Communication · Design · Teaching · Writing

The Napkin (or Envelope)

February 17th, 2014 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips The napkin or envelope is still one of the best tools for the engineer or manager or fill-in-the-blank. I have a(n old-fashioned) laptop computer, a smartphone, and a tablet – and I still write notes on a napkin. Yes, I am old, that is part of the explanation. Yet, there is something […]

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Tags: Design · Estimation · General Systems Thinking · Ideas · Notebook · Thinking · Writing

Public Restroom Architecture

October 21st, 2013 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips There is a wrong way and a right way to place a door to a public restroom. Why is this so difficult? This is a bit of an odd blog post, but here goes. I am fed up with poor public restroom architecture. There is a right and wrong way for the […]

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Tags: Design

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

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

Setting Limits on Tasks

October 29th, 2012 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Some tasks don’t deserve a lot of time to complete, despite how much time I would like to devote to them. I find items that limit my time on task. Some tasks are worth only so much time. Regardless of how much I like the task or how much I feel the […]

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Tags: Design · Work

The Geek’s Perfect Jacket

April 9th, 2012 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips I have a new Scottevest jacket. It has 20 pockets, and I love it. This is a first for this blog – a post about fashion. Well, I think it is about fashion. It is also about utility. I now own a ScottEVest Standard Jacket. I looked at these on the Internet for […]

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Tags: Design · Fashion