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

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Entries Tagged as 'Listening'

The First Five Minutes

June 13th, 2024 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips An old adage, one that I have experienced to be true, is that a person will tell another person the solution to all their problems in the first five minutes of the first conversation. Many years ago, an experienced consultant told me, “The client will tell the consultant the solution to all […]

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Tags: Consulting · Learning · Listening · Problems · Solutions

I Don’t Understand What You Are Saying

June 10th, 2024 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Sometimes we just don’t understand when someone else doesn’t understand. I was recently attending a meeting online. This was one of those ZoomerTeams things where the PowerPoint was on the screen and the presenter was talking in a room with one of those microphones on the conference table. I couldn’t understand what […]

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Tags: Clarity · Communication · Expectations · Honesty · Humility · Listening · Respect

Nap More, Talk Less

January 18th, 2024 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Along with the sage advice, “listen more, talk less,” I add, “nap more, talk less.” “People who nap in the day are lazy.” My mother told me that countless times. Sometimes I disagree with things my mother told me. Now to the title of the post: before opening mouth, rest. Fatigue always […]

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Tags: Communication · Fatigue · Learning · Listening · Rest · Writing

One Facilitator, Nine Teachers, and Ten Learners

August 31st, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Facilitated learning sessions offer big benefits. They are not as easy to arrange, but are much better than other methods. There are various ways to conduct classes and learning. The usual method is to have one teacher and nine students. The teacher talks, the students listen (we hope), and the students learn […]

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Tags: Adults · Change · Education · Learning · Listening · Teaching

The CONOPS

December 12th, 2022 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips This is a reminder of one of the fundamental documents or documentations in creating systems that delight users. It is the Concept of Operations. First things first. We want to provide a system that delights users. Where do we start? Let’s talk with the users; watch the users; learn from the users, […]

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Tags: Communication · Concepts · Conversation · Engineering · General Systems Thinking · Listening · Systems

Vin Scully, Neighbor – again

August 8th, 2022 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Vin Scully died last week. He retired almost six years ago. I wrote about him in September 2016. Here is a repeat of that. I won’t hear my old neighbor’s voice anymore. Vin Scully retires. It was 40-something years ago. I was a kid playing in the back yard in southern California. […]

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Tags: America · Childhood · Conversation · Family · Life · Listening · Remember

Time to React

June 6th, 2022 · No Comments

By Dwayne Phillips Time is a marvelous tool. Allow time between an action or event and the reaction or the feedback for the event. I have spoken at large gatherings many times in my career (500 or 600 persons attending, most of them staying awake). I enjoy it. When I am finished speaking, I am […]

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Tags: Communication · Event · Listening · Reaction · Talk · Time

The Document is a Person

October 28th, 2021 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Some persons know what they want, but they don’t have the resources to tell me. Perhaps they don’t know what they want. Perhaps they have many other reasons for passing me to another person. Perhaps I should just stay away. Do you want to know what I want? Talk to Mr. ABC. […]

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Tags: Communication · Excuses · Listening · Management

Writing about Writing (and everything else)

October 18th, 2021 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips When you do something, someone will ask you how. Sometimes the explanation works, often it doesn’t. It seems that once I wrote a book or two and a few dozen magazine articles, I was approached by persons who wanted to write a book or two and a few dozen articles. They wanted […]

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Tags: Consulting · Expertise · Listening · Success · Writing

Why Persons Don’t Become Vaccinated and How to Convince Them to be Vaccinated

August 19th, 2021 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Many persons want many other persons to become vaccinated. Their methods, however, are achieving the opposite. “Become vaccinated,” is an oft-heard cry. (Actually, I read “get vaccinated” which brings cringes of pain to those of us who know the meaning of words.) And there are many who do not get the vaccine […]

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Tags: Breathe · Communication · Conversation · Health · Listening · Patience · Please · Respect · Science · Virus