Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips To provide a system for users, we need to know the users. How can we know the users without being a user and forgetting about the providers? I once worked a couple of years in an American Embassy in Africa. A constant concern at the U.S. Department of State was that its […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Analysis paralysis is where I sit and think a long time about what I should do. I recommend against such. Instead, experience has taught my that in most cases the best thing to do is one thing, and then the next, and then the next. This has happened to me about a […]

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by Dwayne Phillips People accomplish most of the work on projects. People don’t need to know every tiny detail from me. They are good at filling in the gaps themselves. Rounding off the details is fine in all work where people play a large role. I am not a mathematician – I am an engineer. […]

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by Dwayne Phillips I am working a on process improvement this week. I wish I could state a brilliant insight. Alas, all I have is, “let’s try harder.” That reduces to having good people spend the time necessary to do a task well. Blogs don’t always announce breakthroughs in any field of endeavor. Let’s downgrade […]

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by Dwayne Phillips A recent manager wrote his thoughts in the air with his finger. There was some good, some bad, and some annoyances with this habit. But, as with most things people do, there was plenty to learn. I worked on a short project recently where the project manager wrote in the air. To […]

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by Dwayne Phillips I like to be ready. At times I forced myself to be less ready and learn during the moment. Those were quite satisfying. Project managers can take something from this and help their people learn. I like to plan. Well, not to plan, I guess what is really like is to be […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Managers often start things that they cannot sustain. Great endeavors begin with gusto, but fade away quietly. I dislike these. There are ways around the continual disappointment of the unsustainable. I’ll never forget the evening. My dad had pulled out his slide projector (in case your are too young to recall these […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Shortcuts have always led to more work for me, not less. The past two weeks have emphasized that to me. They have also taught my a new definition to “shortcut.” Sorry, there is no magic here. Wiktionary.org: A path between two points that is faster than the commonly used paths; A method […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Producing a lot of documentation doesn’t ensure project success. Sometimes, when emphasized incorrectly, a lot of documentation can ensure project failure. Keep in mind the purposes of documentation. This week during one of those little lulls that occur in even the busiest of endeavors, an engineer and I were chatting. For some […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Management actions and lingo are nice. They are not, however, as effective as simple friendship. In a recent job, we had a traditional organization arrangement where the engineers built systems and the operators used the systems. Managers divided this arrangement into smaller parts or “branches” of six to ten people by the […]

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