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

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Entries Tagged as 'Systems'

Clearing the Mind of Distractions

May 13th, 2010 · No Comments

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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Tags: Design · Ideas · Journal · Magic · Notebook · Reframe · Systems · Writing

Eating Your Own Dog Food

May 3rd, 2010 · No Comments

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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Tags: Design · Systems · Technology

Publish on Demand – FastPencil

April 26th, 2010 · No Comments

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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Tags: Systems · Writing

Making an RVTM with “Click-able” Links

March 25th, 2010 · No Comments

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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Tags: Design · Requirements · Systems · Word

The Dinner Design Review

March 15th, 2010 · No Comments

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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Tags: Communication · Design · Expectations · Health · Ideas · Judgment · Meetings · Requirements · Systems

Reframing the Future

March 11th, 2010 · No Comments

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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Tags: Reframe · Systems · Writing

A Thought on Health Insurance

March 9th, 2010 · No Comments

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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Tags: Government · Health · Systems

Requirements Tracing via a Wiki

March 5th, 2010 · No Comments

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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Tags: Systems · Technology · Wiki

Engineers and Their Babies

March 1st, 2010 · No Comments

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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Tags: Design · Learning · Lifecycle · Systems

The MoinMoin Wiki

February 25th, 2010 · No Comments

I have the MoinMoin wiki up and running on a Windows XP machine. I am running a local-only version – no server capability. This was pretty easy and took about 15 minutes. The source for all this is the MoinMoin site. I downloaded the 1.9 release from their download page. This docs page explains how […]

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Tags: Systems · Technology · Wiki