Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips Bringing about change in a group of people is perhaps the most difficult task anyone can undertake. An old fable sheds light on one technique for encouraging change. I wish I knew the origin of this little fable. I hope that I relay it well enough. Anyways, here goes: Once upon a […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Urgency and energy are great qualities to have in the people on your project. Urgency can be instilled in people via careful and thoughtful motivation. Energy may come in the door with some people. Given either of these, work moves quickly. Without them, work doesn’t move. I have become my father. That […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Author and consultant Ed Yourdon is updating his book “Death March.” He is working on the book online as a type of blog. You can participate by reading and commenting. The instructions for joining are here. I have joined in the discussion. I like this type of thing – reading something written […]

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Managers and others in high position don’t “just know” how to work well with people. They have to learn it. Some of the rest of us have to learn that the managers have to learn. by Dwayne Phillips I kept my four-month-old grandson for a couple of hours yesterday while my wife and daughter-in-law went […]

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by Dwayne Phillips It seems that many knowledge workers “work” four hours a day (and are paid for eight). This merely highlights our ignorance of what comrpises work. Slashdot recently surveyed 24,000 workers. 40% said they worked four hours a day. Another 24% said they worked maybe four to six hours. This means two-thirds of […]

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by Dwayne Phillips I have seen many “critical” systems built with commercial products that are available at the mall, Best Buy, Circuit City, you name them. The result can be disastrous. Please be careful. About ten years ago I worked on a small project that built a data link. We were sending short, simple text […]

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by Dwayne Phillips I believe in employing specialists – people who really know what they are doing. I had an experience with experts this past month. Several of my friends have been working on another friend’s home for several weekends. I am not a carpenter, a plumber, nor an electrician. Regardless, I showed up and […]

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by Dwayne Phillips I work with volunteer groups and have done so since I was a teenager. Volunteers are precious resources, but are often difficult colleagues who quarrel. Why? These people are dedicated to a common cause. What is the problem? I believe half of one reason is the role of preferences. Preferences come in […]

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by Dwayne Phillips This should be fun, right? A billion dollars to spend on technology to stimulate the economy. I mean, the new Administration is proposing spending $37Billion in 18 months on technology. Let’s do some calculations on a napkin (I am literally doing that here at the table). $1Million hires four technically skilled people […]

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by Dwayne Phillips One management method doesn’t fit all size projects. It seems that while some few practices work in all cases and some practices work in no cases, there are many practices that work in only one or two cases. This isn’t news to most readers, but there is a way to tell when […]

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