by Dwayne Phillips There are tools that help me remember the things I need to remember. They prevent a fall into the Dark Ages. Define Dark Ages: it isn’t that we forget how to do something, it is that we forget than we once could do that. Personal Dark Ages: it isn’t that I can’t […]
Entries Tagged as 'Information'
The Dark Ages at a Personal Level
October 21st, 2021 · No Comments
Tags: Competence · Information · Journal · Process · Remember · Tools
The Backwards Information Thermocline
June 24th, 2021 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Information at the bottom of an organization usually doesn’t move up to the top. In the past, I have written about the information thermocline and the authority thermocline. Organizations have levels. Even “flat” organizations—regardless of claims to the contrary—have levels. Information and authority don’t flow down into the lower levels. About half […]
Tags: Communication · Failure · Information
Data, Information, Money—a Simple Example
June 7th, 2021 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Data is money. Information is money. Here is a precise, concrete, and specific example. Data is money. Information is money. Yeah, we hear that all the time. Really? What are you trying to sell me? A few years ago (dates and names withheld to protect the guilty) I worked in a job […]
Tags: Data Science · Information · Management · Money
Pulling Information
May 31st, 2021 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Pulling information involves asking questions. It means you receive information other than what the holder of information volunteers. Ask with care. Pulling information makes an information meeting much longer than the presenter planned. The audience asks questions to learn information that wasn’t presented. But what about this? Why say what you said? […]
Tags: Information · Questions
Fiction and Disinformation
December 14th, 2020 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Fiction, when repeated enough, becomes fact in the minds of many. So why aren’t we trying to stomp out fiction that is far from reality? I have seen many movies on Hallmark Movies and Mysteries. 99% of murders in real life are not like that, nothing like that. 99% of murders in […]
Tags: Expectations · Fable · Fairy Tales · Information · Stories · Writing
Hiding Information and Ignorance
June 15th, 2020 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips “I don’t know” and “I don’t want to say” are close cousins. They also carry much information if we are willing to listen. “I don’t know.” “I can’t say.” “I don’t want to say anything now as I may be divulging too much or incorrect information.” Would you please tell me something? […]
Tags: Information · Questions · Uncategorized · Visibility · Work
Fake News is News. Are We Listening?
March 5th, 2020 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Consider some rules of the English language. Afterwards, let’s start listening to what is said. Allow me to digress a few moments into English language and usage. Fake news is news. Notice the noun “news” is there in the phrase “fake news.” The word “fake” is merely an adjective attached to the […]
Tags: Adults · Fairy Tales · Fun · Information · Listening · Meta
Misinformation, Disinformation, Entertainment, and Questions
March 2nd, 2020 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips We seem to have confused ourselves once again. Perhaps simply asking a few questions would quell all the hyperventilating. Is it misinformation or disinformation? I confuse the two. Is either a real word or something a word inventor invented last week because he couldn’t find his dictionary and an appropriate word among […]
Tags: Adults · Information · Questions · Thinking
I Hope Nothing Comes Up in Today’s Meeting
February 27th, 2020 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips There is something called the “hope nothing” meeting. In it, I hope nothing comes up that causes me pain, effort, and general angst. Hope nothing meetings are pleasant, but can be deadly. I sit in meetings. People tell me things. Sometimes they tell me things that cause me work. Sometimes they tell […]
Tags: Communication · Information · Learning · Management · Meetings
A Successful Experiment
October 28th, 2019 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Good tests and experiments provide useful information. Sometimes the information isn’t what we want to hear, but we need to keep the two separate. In France recently, tests were performed to learn if roadways could generate electrical energy from the sun. They learned that roadways were not a good place for solar […]
Tags: Experiment · Information · Research · Science · Testing