by Dwayne Phillips When confronting something that looks odd, show it to an old person. They may have seen this before and can explain it. Many years ago, a programmer saw an odd way to demodulate amplitude modulation. The method didn’t resemble any of the equations or diagrams regarding amplitude modulation (AM, or that radio […]
Entries Tagged as 'Expertise'
Show This to the Old Person
November 18th, 2024 · No Comments
Tags: Artificial Intelligence · Clarity · Consulting · Expertise · General Systems Thinking · History · Knowledge · Leadership · Learning
Brute Force and Ignorance
September 23rd, 2024 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Sometimes you just lower your head against a wall and push as hard as you can. Let’s begin this little blog post by noting that I attended LSU—not MIT, Carnegie Mellon, Stanford or any of those places known for producing really smart people. At LSU, we may not be able to spell […]
Tags: Adapting · Alternatives · Commitment · Education · Expertise · Tools
Popular Vocabulary
August 29th, 2024 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips It is easy to use vocabulary that is popular at this moment. It is a bit more difficult to explain the situation in plain English. That exercise, however, is often well worth the effort. Here is some popular vocabulary in the endeavor of software development: It’s nice to toss out one or […]
Tags: Communication · Concepts · Expertise · Knowledge · Reframe · Vocabulary · Word
The Upside Down Expertise Pyramid
July 18th, 2024 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips We often have the experts looking up at someone atop the pyramid who simply doesn’t know much of what they are saying. There is supposed to be an expertise pyramid. The lone person atop the pyramid has more expertise than all those below. That is how the person reached the top of […]
Tags: Baseline · Culture · Expertise · General Systems Thinking · Government · Systems
Oh, You Do Things Well Here
May 9th, 2024 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Excellence is an exception. It is also a pleasant surprise. Enjoy it. Sometimes I am surprised in that I walk into a new situation with a new group of persons and, WOW, they are doing things well. Best practices, best tools, high expectations, high satisfaction. It is all here. They are well […]
Tags: Chaos · Competence · Expectations · Expertise · People
Higher Expectations for Human Intelligence
April 29th, 2024 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips These chattering bots can “generate” all sorts of information. Humans must do more and better to keep their paying jobs. I recently sat in a lecture about some worthwhile topic. The lecturer started with, “There are eight aspects to this topic that we will cover in the next ten sessions.” The lecturer […]
Tags: Artificial Intelligence · Change · Expectations · Expertise · Improvement · Tools
Of Course It Works Better
April 15th, 2024 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Of course software running for the thousandth time works better than some people at some tasks. It has for half-a-dozen decades. Why does this continue to surprise us? Here is a recent breath-taking story about how AI performs better than doctors at detecting a type of cancer. Of course it does. Put […]
Tags: Artificial Intelligence · Computing · Expertise · Fatigue · Technology
More Words, More Errors
March 21st, 2024 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips It is simple math: the more words presented the more errors present. Rats. There is a big benefit to brevity: fewer errors. One way to consider errors is to look at the number of errors per the number of words. Something like five errors per one-hundred words. That is 95% correct and […]
Tags: Brevity · Communication · Competence · Error · Expertise · Improvement · Writing
It’s Easier Than Ever to Know a Little
December 18th, 2023 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips There is so much information available to us, what do we do? Wait, there are also so many great summaries of information available to us. It is easier than ever to know a little. Is that a good thing? It is easier than ever to know a little: It is still just […]
Tags: Artificial Intelligence · Expertise · Knowledge · Learning · Research · Wikipedia · Writing
Engineers and Philosophers
October 5th, 2023 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips It is often best to leave the conversations of another profession to those other professionals. I am an engineer. There, got that out of the way. And I have a Doctor of Philosophy or PhD in engineering. I have not idea why they call the degree by that name. Oh well, got […]
Tags: Communication · Engineering · Expertise · Humility · Language