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

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Entries Tagged as 'Observation'

Selecting the Adjectives

October 8th, 2009 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Adjectives describe our work and the results of our work. Hence, our worked is judged by the adjective. More to the point, our work is described by the person who selects the adjective. ad·jec·tive n.   Abbr. a. or adj. The part of speech that modifies a noun or other substantive by limiting, […]

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Tags: Communication · Judgment · Observation

Leave Room for Learning

August 24th, 2009 · No Comments

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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Tags: Learning · Management · Observation

Learning

May 14th, 2009 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips I learned something big and useful this week – really useful. After kicking myself for not knowing it already, I grew some humility. Learning comes from unexpected people, times, and places. I resolve to use what energy I have to pay attention for the next thing coming my way. I learned something […]

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Tags: Learning · Observation · Technology · Uncategorized

But in Conclusion

May 11th, 2009 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips There are many methods to use to reach a conclusion. Since they all involve fallible people like me, most of the methods are fallible. Expect requests for further study. Anticipate them and ask others to study alongside you from the beginning. Arriving at a conclusion is a primary task of an engineer, […]

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Tags: Culture · Judgment · Learning · Management · Observation

Without my Attention

April 9th, 2009 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips As a manager, I once believed that life could not occur without my presence. I killed myself to be at everything. I learned that was false. This was a blow to my ego that I was around people who were competent enough to work without me. The biggest college basketball game of […]

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Tags: Management · Observation · People

Problem Solving – caught vice taught

March 2nd, 2009 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips I had an enjoyable evening yesterday. My son was working on a programming project for a freshman-level computer science class (college). I – after being asked – jumped into the problem. Several observations. (1) Computer science professors aren’t any better at creating meaningful programming assignments than they were 30 years ago. (2) […]

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Tags: Culture · Judgment · Logic · Observation

The Death of Newspapers: Poor News Writing

January 14th, 2009 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Newspapers are dying. They are being replaced by the Internet. The story goes on and on. But why? Newsprint is easier to read for many of us. I always found the big page format clumsy to hold and fold and keep straight, but it was print and I could take it anywhere. […]

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Tags: Judgment · Observation · Writing