Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips Those who are supposed to do what I say are revolting. Rejoice. I have succeeded beyond my wildest dreams. When I was 21, I was clueless at work. I had no idea what I was doing or was supposed to do when I walked in the building in the morning. These older […]

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by Dwayne Phillips If you want people to focus on the focal point, discuss nonsense first. Rubbing spaghetti Play-Doh on a surfboard means nothing to no one. (At least I think it means nothing to no one. If someone out there has a strong feeling about it, please let me know.) It is the perfect […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Experts are far more productive than the average. But if we eliminate the average, how will anyone become an expert? Expert managers can manage 10 times the work of the average manager. Expert fill-in-the-blank can do 10 times the work of the average fill-in-the-blank. But how will the expert become an expert […]

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by Dwayne Phillips I read that some “young people” don’t stay in their jobs long. They don’t want to waste their life in something they dislike. Enjoyment often requires time. No job is enjoyable the first month. Or day or week or six months. When in a new job, I don’t understand what is really […]

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by Dwayne Phillips We make mistakes. We make mistakes at a given rate of X mistakes per unit of work. Look at all the work, find all the mistakes, learn, and change direction. We make mistakes. We make X mistakes per page. The more pages the more mistakes. In a bad situation? Sit and read […]

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by Dwayne Phillips There are several places I can always find an interesting person for an interesting and educational conversation. One is outside any neighborhood elementary school. My grandfather on my mother’s side outlived his wife by 20 years or so. That was and still is unusual. After a year alone, he needed a reason […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Choose to learn. We all pay the tuition, but we may not all get the education. I guess many school teachers and government employees and just plain folks never say this to themselves. I always did, but perhaps that explained my mediocre career in government service. I was too inquisitive, too exploratory, […]

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by Dwayne Phillips It can be disappointing to admit, but if we want significant change, we must bring it about slowly. Significant change—the kind that brings big benefit over a big period of time—occurs slowly. Those two adjectives concerning change—significant and slow—appear inseparable. I don’t like that. When I have a great idea for a […]

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by Dwayne Phillips We work in the real world; not in one where what we wish is true. Sometimes we simply need to teach a little. A: I told these people what to do…and AARGH (pained expression interrupts speech). B: How did you teach them how to do that? A: What? What do you mean? […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Sometimes we recognize our failures. Then—for some strange reason—we attempt something that will fail an order of magnitude more. We have failed to manage our $1 maintenance budget. Let’s correct this by starting a $10 development budget. We have failed to communicate in daily operations. Let’s correct this by starting a large […]

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