by Dwayne Phillips A recent experience with a customer-service organization illustrates how much of today’s “can’t” is merely “I don’t want to.” The topic of this blog is nothing new. That is one of my frustrations as this is an old habit that I wish and wish had gone away in today’s world of inter-networked […]
Entries Tagged as 'Expectations'
Can’t versus Don’t Want To
April 6th, 2015 · No Comments
Tags: Expectations · Life · People
Selling a Program, Keeping it Sold
March 9th, 2015 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips To gain approval for an endeavor, you must “sell” it to those who decide such things. Then, as work progresses, you must continue to engage those who decide and keep the project “sold.” I hate this topic. That is because one of my worst experiences in my career was due to my […]
Tags: Change · Communication · Expectations · Management
Performers, Predictors, and Punishment
February 23rd, 2015 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips When a performer doesn’t perform as predicted, the predictor is in the wrong. Too bad that we usually fail to recognize that. I write this the week after all the big tech companies posted their quarterly financial reports. Some companies didn’t perform as expected, i.e., as predicted. The result was that the […]
Tags: Competence · Estimation · Expectations · Judgment
Tell Them it is Normal
January 29th, 2015 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Life is full of challenges and frustrations. Some of these are normal. When encountering normal with a person who has not encountered it before, explain to them that it is normal. I once tutored a young man through a frustrating process at work. In the middle of the pull-out-your-hair and smash-your-head-through-the-wall day, […]
Tags: Communication · Consulting · Education · Expectations · Learning
Two Unspoken Requirements
November 24th, 2014 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Many projects make no sense. They are driven by two unspoken yet paramount requirements. I have seen many projects that were driven by two unspoken but paramount requirements: The project must cost a certain amount of money—no more and no less You have to look like you are trying to do something […]
Tags: Culture · Expectations · Magic · Management · Requirements
Too Close for Comfort
October 27th, 2014 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips For many of us, being close shows us the details, and those details make us sick. I give to several non-profit organizations. One of them is based ten thousand miles away. Another is based five miles away. I see many details of the one that is five miles away. I don’t like […]
Tags: Competence · Expectations · General Systems Thinking · Problems
Descriptions and Predictions
March 17th, 2014 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips A description portrays what is now; a prediction estimate what may come. Sometimes we confuse the two at our peril. Some words are predictions. We use to them to portray our estimate of the future. Few of us are satisfactory as predictors of the future even though most of us think we […]
Tags: Communication · Estimation · Expectations · General Systems Thinking · Reframe
The Most Important Project in a Person’s Life
November 18th, 2013 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips I cannot overestimate the importance of starting well. What a person does on the first project of their life is out of proportion in importance. This is quick and simple: The most important project in a person’s life is the first project. Why? Because the new person knows nothing about real-world projects. […]
Tags: Expectations · Management
Reverse Psychology
September 16th, 2013 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips People used to use the phrase “reverse psychology” more than they do now. I suppose I act out reverse psychology a lot these days. I don’t, however, of it in those terms. I think of my actions in vastly different terms. People used to say the phrase that sits atop this post. […]
Tags: Communication · Expectations
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 […]
Tags: Culture · Expectations