Working Up

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

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Entries Tagged as 'Purpose'

Intentional: A Word Without Meaning

April 4th, 2024 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips To be intentional is to do something that you intended to do. I guess that is better than doing something accidentally or unintentionally. Yet, it has no meaning. To be intentional is to do something that you intended to do. It is to do something on purpose. Eating is intentional. I eat […]

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Tags: Choose · Communication · Decide · Ideas · Purpose · Reframe

Let’s Do Meetings Better

December 11th, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips We tend to have many meetings—”many” being subjective. Since we do this so often, let try to do it better. I worked for the Federal government for several decades. Government employees meet in groups several times every day. I have also worked for companies on government contracts. We met with the government […]

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Tags: Decide · Improvement · Management · Meetings · Purpose · Simple

A Sense of Urgency

October 9th, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips We have tools that multiply our productivity. Every age seems to have such tools. Will we have the sense of urgency to use these tools this time around? From what I can find, the screwdriver was invented in the late 1400s. It was created to, of course, turn screws. The screws were […]

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Tags: History · Improvement · Jobs · Purpose · Technology · Urgent · Work

This Is Really Good

July 13th, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips This is really good (to someone on some day). And I don’t know who that someone is or when that day is. This blog post is really good. I felt great when I wrote it. The words flew through my fingers onto the screen and to the Internet. Wow! People will love […]

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Tags: Help · People · Purpose · Teaching · Wishes

Organizing the Material

January 27th, 2022 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Almost anyone can gather the material. Organizing it or creating a story from it, however, appears to be a rare yet valuable skill. We have lots of information. Go to Wikipedia. Download PDFs of the pages. Concatenate the pages. There it is. Go to a search engine. Find a dozen hits. Copy […]

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Tags: Clarity · Communication · Context · Design · Information · Purpose · Reframe · Stories · Teaching · Thinking · Wikipedia

Emergency Operations Centers

October 25th, 2021 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Most “Emergency Operations Centers” function to show that the emergency operations center has electricity. Does that describe yours? A recent serious weather event caused me to interact with an Emergency Operations Center or EOC. The website for that place proclaimed quite proudly how it was built to withstand such serious weather events. […]

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Tags: Accountability · Communication · Emergency · Purpose · Systems

Rules We Cannot Enforce

October 14th, 2021 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips We make rules. Why? Sometimes it is petty and to serve our ego. Pause and think (two pretty good rules about rules). We make a rule for or over or against the persons we know or our work colleagues. We cannot enforce that rule over all the persons who are supposed to […]

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Tags: Adults · Purpose · Respect · Trust · Work

Building Products or Building Infrastructure

March 15th, 2021 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Are we making a product or making a product that allows others to make a product. Are we making a product that will allow us to make a product, but we spend so much time on the first that we never make a product? I see this often. People aren’t building products. […]

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Tags: Lifecycle · Patterns · Process · Purpose · Work

Simulating a Machine, a.k.a., Computer Programming

October 22nd, 2018 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips It is easy to forget that those of us who write computer programs are basically simulating machines to perform useful tasks. That wonderful computer program known as Visicalc was credited with being the world’s first electronic spreadsheet. The name Visicalc was short for “visible calculator.” Great stuff that transformed many aspects of […]

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Tags: Programming · Purpose

What was the Purpose of…?

August 2nd, 2018 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Take care lest we forget the purpose of an endeavor. It is easy to lose our way. The numbers prove it (well, pretty much): these shoes from Nike help us to run more efficiently, i.e., same distance and speed, and more, with less energy consumed. Wow! I need these for my running! […]

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Tags: Design · Purpose