Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips It seems there is a fundamental misunderstanding about the product of research. There seems to be a misunderstanding about the product of research. I saw this article about risk in research. The idea is that researchers are often risky. Huh? Risk management asks, “What could possibly go wrong?” That is something we […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Are we putting all our eggs in one basket? No one seems to be arranging this, but we are putting are our eggs in one basket? A couple of recent news stories caused me to pause and think (a dangerous thing, thinking). Eight tech companies have over 30% of the value of […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Just because something could go wrong doesn’t mean it will. Perhaps we should let well-meaning try it. Look what is possible with the new AI, robots, machines, chemicals, etc. Yes, but, I have found a way to turn the good possibilities into bad possibilities. I have devised a test that the new […]

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by Dwayne Phillips A part of or a separate activity is the punishment assessment. What is the result of not following the rules? Years ago, I supervised a person who always asked the question, “And what happens to me if I don’t do this?” He wasn’t avoiding work; he was assessing rules and regulations to […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Is it alright to declare that we behave erratically and that others just need to watch out for us and be cautious? Recently, while driving on the Interstate, I saw a sign posted on a car: Oh, just declare that we drive erratically, so just watch out for us. Silly, of course. […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Keep your earth-shattering new thing quiet for a while. Once it works, shout. This is basic risk management. Something has never been done before. That means it is difficult. I have a solution. I can do it or I think I can do it. The best practice, in my experience of doing […]

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by Dwayne Phillips We have yet more examples showing how remote sensing is difficult. One day, we learn this well enough to anticipate it? There have been several unmanned craft land on the moon recently. That is a great accomplishment to send something to the moon and have it land soft enough to still function. […]

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by Dwayne Phillips In our personal lives, we often take all the risk without asking others to share it. The basic, but rarely asked, question is, “What does each person have to lose?” I am sitting here sipping coffee pondering what to do. Someone is asking me to wait, and wait, and wait. Perhaps they […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Recent fueling tests at NASA once again show us the peril of shortcuts. NASA recently completed a fueling test for its Space Launch System. Good for them. Test completed. The story in the link is a good one as it describes several things that went wrong while fueling. One of the problems […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Our mistakes put us in this situation, a tree didn’t fall on us. “How did we get here? What happened?” Simple, we decided to do this and that and some other thing, and we were mistaken. No one made us do what we did. We chose on our own. So, here we […]

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