Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips My printed book from FastPencil is in hand. It took about three weeks for FastPencil to transform a PDF file to a paperback book. It is 6″x9″ and 155 pages. Lessons Learned: 10-point font is too small for my eyes I chose a creme paper instead of white, I wish I had […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Frenzied paralysis – so many things in my mind that I cannot do any of them. I make a list to clear my mind and move from paralysis to action. I can’t think. Well, that’s not true. I guess the problem is that I am thinking too much. Well, that is not […]

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by Dwayne Phillips People should use the systems they build. If they don’t who will? A new concept in the military – Optionally Piloted Vehicles – once again raises the issue of using your own systems. “Eat your own dog food.” This is an old saying in computer terms – are computers old enough to […]

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by Dwayne Phillips I turn a book manuscript into a paperback book with little fuss and no setup fee. A few years ago I published a book with iUniverse. I enjoyed that experience with in self publishing or publish on demand. The package with iUniverse cost me $200, and I sold enough books to cover […]

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by Dwayne Phillips A challenge in systems engineering is tracing from requirements through design and implementation to testing. This is done in almost all development methods (often people do this without realizing it). I show a method of tracing that uses Microsoft Word features and link to a video demonstration of the technique. A Requirements […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Design reviews can be important parts of projects. At design reviews, we attempt to communicate clearly and minimize misunderstandings. There are several design reviews that are important to the success of a project. This essay describes one design review that people want to have but should never be allowed. We have design […]

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by Dwayne Phillips One task which many of us either choose or have thrust upon us is predicting the future. We usually perform this task poorly. An aid to declaring “the future will be thus” is reframing with a few introductory words. The future will be awful. There is no way out of this. We […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Just a thought on health insurance from an engineer. I see that President Obama doesn’t like what existing health insurance companies are doing with their rates and policies. It seems that the president wants health insurance companies to be non-profit and insure everyone regardless of pre-existing conditions. Health insurance seems to be […]

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by Dwayne Phillips I experimented with using a wiki to gather and trace requirements. I tried the MediaWiki software. While it works well for building a flow down of requirements, it is not good at placing the individual requirements into a single Word document. A systems engineering project is looming at work. We don’t have […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Engineers create wonderful things now and then. Oblivious users turn the creations upside down and use them backwards. Such oblivious use teaches great lessons that smart organizations use before going to production. Engineers have their babies. Not the human kind of baby, though some engineers have those, too, but the system-that-they-create kind […]

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