Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips The title is the hallmark of a person in a bureaucracy. Do less; just get by. I have worked in and around government agencies for four decades or more. Gosh, that’s a lot. The title of this little post summarizes the mean of the bell curve in these places. Let’s expand a […]

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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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by Dwayne Phillips Bad things happen in the lives of employees. Other employees are asked to show consideration. This works for a short while. Managers need to act properly and quickly. Many years ago, I went to a fellow employee to retrieve some information from an equipment inventory. It was a mess. The guy didn’t […]

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By Dwayne Phillips Despite what I have noticed the past couple of years, declaring, “I’m just learning” does not allow us to do whatever we want. Earlier this year, I wrote about using Emergency Flashers to gain allowance to do whatever I want (not). I’ve noticed something similar with stickers on cars that say something […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Accepting poor performance and low-quality products sets a precedent. The longer this lasts, the more difficult it is to change the situation. Comedian Don Knotts had this routine playing Barney Fife on the Andy Griffith Show. “Nip it in the bud,” was the punchline that was punched over and over. I still […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Meta understanding is understanding about understanding. This is rarely practiced. That lack of practice is perilous. I once worked with a man who had a high school diploma and nothing else as far as formal education. Still, this person rose in the ranks of government service to the level of Senior Executive […]

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by Dwayne Phillips We predict the future poorly. We know we do. What we don’t seem to realize is how often we predict the future. We predict the future poorly. Very poorly. Very, very poorly. Which among us predicted ChatGPT would arrive? And then become that fastest adopted system ever? I am waiting. Okay, I […]

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by Dwayne Phillips New problem? Need a new solution. First, try the simplest thing. It happened again at work the other day. We have a new problem (new day, new problem). We need a new solution. What will we do? Hmmm, there are so many options. Each option with its good things and bad things […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Someone is paid to lead the people and manage the work. They are paid to answer, “Yes, but how are they going to do that?” Work can be difficult to accomplish at times. And there are times when you say, “This isn’t good enough. It must be better.” A well-meaning person replies, […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Some of the worst mistakes I make are my mistakes about my mistakes and the corrections of my mistakes. Confused? Most of us are. We all make mistakes. Sorry to write that, but it is true. Then we make meta mistakes. These are mistakes about our mistakes and the corrections of our […]

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