Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips We often use the vocabulary and ceremonies of a prescribed practice without actually doing anything worthwhile. Daily standup, peer review, prototype, minimum viable product, agility, AI, agent, etc.: examples of vocabulary that makes it appear as if something good is happening. Do they have a minimum viable product? Is there product much […]

[Read more →]

by Dwayne Phillips Sometimes, the better thing to do is let people do what they think is best or at least what they think is better on any given day. “We are a fill-in-the-blank organization. We use best fill-in-the-blank practices as described by fill-in-the-second-blank who described fill-in-the-blank in the seminal blog post on fill-in-the-blank,” said […]

[Read more →]

by Dwayne Phillips There is the meta-plan or the plan about the plan. There is the meta-rehearsal or the rehearsal for the rehearsal. There are many other meta-this-and-that. They are quite useful. My wife and I have been married since 1983 (40 years as of the writing of this post). I recall our wedding rehearsal. […]

[Read more →]

by Dwayne Phillips Busy at work? But are we doing the real work? Consider for a moment the “fast food industry” in America. I think we Americans invented this endeavor. What are the key words? I believe #1 is “industry” and #2 is “fast.” The concept of “food” is … well, not so important. This […]

[Read more →]

by Dwayne Phillips A writer can write 2,400 words in an hour and thereby finish a novel in 14 days (three weeks). Why don’t we? The average typing speed is 40 words per minute. That is 2,400 words per hour. If you write three hours a day and rest your hands the remainder of the […]

[Read more →]

by Dwayne Phillips Regardless of position or circumstance, some people do things while others don’t. This appears to be one of those parts of human nature that have puzzled me for years. Given a situation, some persons will talk, think, talk, ignore, and employ just about every verb there is except for the forms of […]

[Read more →]

by Dwayne Phillips Common thoughts foretell a general consensus. Someone tells me something. Wait, I said that last week when talking to yet another person. Wait, two independent conversations with different audiences, and the same idea is stated. There is a trend here. A consensus is forming. Perhaps great minds think alike (wouldn’t it be […]

[Read more →]

by Dwayne Phillips Fail fast, fair early is a mantra in today’s knowledge work. Sometimes, however, we are confused about what is a failure. Fail fast, fail early! (Some persons say it the other way around and mean the same thing.) The idea is simple: Try something Learn something Adjust Go back to step 1. […]

[Read more →]

by Dwayne Phillips Giving advice? Do we do what we advise? Quick point: an ethical person will only consult, advise, recommend, etc. only things that they do themselves. There are limits. If I advise a company to buy a million-dollar computer system, that is ethical even though I don’t have a million-dollar computer system myself […]

[Read more →]

by Dwayne Phillips I take a first attempt at explaining a different concept of leadership. The potential follower sees good in the life of another person. What are you doing that brings that? I want to do that as well. There are many models, concepts, and explanations of leadership. A few are: Leadership by Example: […]

[Read more →]