Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips The number of people on a project influences the management practices that will succeed. An easy-to-remember heuristic is the breakpoints at 3 to the n power. Yes, that is mutters with a “u.” As the size of a team on a project increases, so does the muttering. This implies that what works […]

[Read more →]

by Dwayne Phillips Micro-Management has been given a bad name. What is bad is nit-picking management. Used properly, micro-management is a good practice. Micro-management is a good management practice. There, now fight the urge to stop reading while I explain. Here is what micro-management is about: A senior manager bores down through several levels of […]

[Read more →]

by Dwayne Phillips There are times when a customer calls for a technical solution to one of their problems. They may, however, have a management problem instead. I work for a technology company. When our customers call, we deliver technical solutions to their problems. Sometimes, however, the customer comes with a fuzzy problem. We investigate […]

[Read more →]

by Dwayne Phillips Same old story – it is not what you know, but who you know that counts. People can’t measure performance. Let me restate that one – people don’t want to measure performance. That is too much work. Instead, people go to their feelings. They ask, “When I consider Dwayne’s performance, do I […]

[Read more →]

by Dwayne Phillips Contemplative writing is a valuable practice. It is far more valuable and far less used than shallow meetings. In my 28 years working for the government, I attended countless meetings where much of nothing was discussed. I avoided far more if these meetings than I attended. Meetings are a characteristic of government […]

[Read more →]

by Dwayne Phillips People often enter business relationships without first answering one question: If I fire you, will that affect our personal relationship? Business relationships are about business. They involve contracts and agreements: You will do this and I will do that. This is pretty simple when you consider these terms. This is pretty complicated […]

[Read more →]

by Dwayne Phillips The foundation of risk management is asking, “What could possibly go wrong?” Some people, however, shrug when asked while others make a list of a million things. A recent chat: Person A: What do you know about risk management? Me: A “risk” is a problem that hasn’t occurred yet. Person A: What […]

[Read more →]

by Dwayne Phillips Good thoughts, hard work, a good team – they are great, but don’t guarantee success in projects. I find yet another television show that illustrates the need for thought and planning. I have found another television show that I love to hate to watch. It is Alaska Gold Rush on the Discovery […]

[Read more →]

by Dwayne Phillips As a manager, when an employee provides short, pleasing answers sound all the alarms you have. Ask more questions until you pull usable information from the employee. Manager: How are things going? Employee: Fine, okay. Manager: (thinks to herself) Great! I’ve communicated with the employee, and we are good. Gosh. How many […]

[Read more →]

by Dwayne Phillips Facebook puts a data center near the arctic circle. The natural cold air will cool the computers. Why is this news? Why is this hailed as a brilliant “green” action? It was December of 1980. We had a small room with a dozen racks of heat-producing equipment that needed to be cooled. […]

[Read more →]