Working Up

Working Up in Project Management, Systems Engineering, Technology, and Writing

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Entries Tagged as 'Jobs'

Trying to Hire Someone Who Already Works Here

November 21st, 2024 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips I encounter this situation often when reading the Help Wanted ads (the kind we have today online). The job description and requirements are far too specific. I have experience being unemployed and trying to find a new job. I don’t like the experience, but I learn a few things now and then. […]

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Tags: Analysis · General Systems Thinking · Jobs · Thinking · Work

Of Course Middle Managers Aren’t Brilliant

January 15th, 2024 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Why do we wonder why middle managers don’t seem to do anything useful. That is the definition of “middle.” We disdain the “man in the middle.” He or she doesn’t seem to do anything but cause greater expense. We disdain the middle managers. They don’t do anything but add levels to the […]

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Tags: Accountability · Jobs · Leadership · Management · Work

Juggling and Dropping Things

December 28th, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips One key to learning how to juggle is to know how to drop something. The same is true for managing competing priorities and tasks. Just about every “Help Wanted” ad I see has something in it about managing competing priorities or managing multiple tasks. I guess they want someone who can decide […]

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Tags: Adapting · Agility · Chaos · Decide · Jobs · Management · Multitasking

Two Essentials for Employees

November 20th, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips There are two essentials for an employee. Given the job market, it appears that the great majority of employers don’t understand these essentials. I have been on both sides of the hiring and being hired world. I find two and only two essentials: Okay, that’s it. Next? The trouble is, it is […]

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Tags: Ethics · Jobs · Judgment · Multitasking · Remote Work · Testing · Work

The Luxury (Electric) Vehicle

November 16th, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Electric vehicles have some good qualities. They are still, however, not practical as the mass consumer market shows. Darn. Don’t you hate it when facts mug a good idea? Sitting here in a coffee shop, typing blogs, sipping coffee and looking out the picture window at a clear sky, I note a […]

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Tags: Customer · Economics · Jobs · Money · Technology

You Are Too Good, You Are Fired

October 30th, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Sometimes some persons excel to the point where they need to be fired. You have outgrown what we do here. You are much more capable than we need. You are fired. Those words don’t make sense. If someone has improved and improved, we want them to stay with us, right? Perhaps not. […]

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Tags: Adapting · Growth · Jobs · Learning · Technology · Tools

A Sense of Urgency

October 9th, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips We have tools that multiply our productivity. Every age seems to have such tools. Will we have the sense of urgency to use these tools this time around? From what I can find, the screwdriver was invented in the late 1400s. It was created to, of course, turn screws. The screws were […]

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Tags: History · Improvement · Jobs · Purpose · Technology · Urgent · Work

Meta Messages in Job Interviews

July 24th, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Take care with the messages you send job interviewees if you really want to hire someone. Another job interview, another headache. Some organizations use this process in a job interview. There are N people sitting around the table. Each person has a sheet with N questions on it. Person #1 reads question […]

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Tags: Change · Jobs · Learning · Questions

Hollywood and Fighting Against What We Do

June 26th, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Sometimes we fight against something with all our might only to discover that are foe is ourselves and what we do everyday. As I write this, there is a writer’s strike in Hollywood. Note, I am not in Hollywood writing this as a writer who is on a writer’s strike. Now that […]

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Tags: Analysis · Communication · Consulting · General Systems Thinking · Jobs · Writing

AI Won’t Replace People

June 22nd, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Sometimes we attribute things we don’t like to things we don’t like. It’s easier that way, even though it isn’t reality. Well, here we have it: AI is replacing people. We can read it in the newspaper. Plain and simple. I link to one newspaper article. I could link to a dozen […]

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Tags: Artificial Intelligence · Communication · Jobs · Management · People · Problems · Work