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

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Entries Tagged as 'Systems'

We Don’t Need an XX on the Team

November 29th, 2021 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips We don’t need an expert in this or that to build better systems. We need a desire to learn and a desire to please. We don’t need a User Experience (UX) person on the team. We don’t need a Customer Experience (CX) expert on the team. We don’t need an XX (fill-in-the-blank […]

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Tags: Customer · Experiment · Expertise · Learning · Resources · Systems · Work

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

RISC, CISC, and General Systems Thinking

September 23rd, 2021 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Reduced complexity optimizes for simplicity. Increased complexity optimizes for simplicity in another form. Which simplicity is “best” is a matter of situation. Apple has recently moved to their own “Apple Silicon” processors. In general terms, Apple switched from Intel’s processors to ARM’s processors. ARM processors are a form of RISC. Intel processors […]

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Tags: Choose · Computing · General Systems Thinking · Systems · Technology

Change Changes Things

September 6th, 2021 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips As much as we might not want to admit it, when one change occurs, everything in that system changes. Tech workers, who can work from anywhere, are moving to places with a lower cost of living and hence increasing their quality of life. This raises the average salary in those lower-cost-of-living places. […]

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Tags: Change · General Systems Thinking · Hope · Systems · Wishes

Chimney, Orange, and Odd Connections

July 19th, 2021 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips The words “chimney” and “orange” rhyme, well, sort of, maybe not, but they are certainly connected. In English, there is no word that rhymes with “orange.” At least that is what I have read. I’m not sure about that. I have heard the same about the word “chimney,” but once again I […]

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Tags: General Systems Thinking · Observation · Reality · Systems · Thinking · Word

Where is the Floor?

July 1st, 2021 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Half the persons in any profession are below average. At what point is a person not allowed in the profession? Where is the floor? Half of all teachers are below average. Half of all interior painters are below average. Fill in the blank for whatever job there is. Okay, we know that. […]

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Tags: Accountability · Competence · Systems · Work

DRY in Non-Fiction and Technical Writing

May 10th, 2021 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips A basic principle in writing non-fiction is Don’t Repeat Yourself. Write it once and point to it. DRY means “Don’t Repeat Yourself.” This is simple, but not often used, and that causes us lots of headaches and heartaches. I have a background in computer programming. A fundamental part of computer programming is […]

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Tags: Design · Systems · Technical Debt · Writing

A Fundamental Problem with Machine Learning

April 5th, 2021 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Despite all the promise and all the already fulfilled promise, there is a fundamental problem with machine learning. Machine learning is that part of artificial intelligence that time and technology favors. We have the stuff needed to make machine learning work right now. Machine learning “works” because you feed in a million […]

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Tags: Data Science · Ethics · General Systems Thinking · Neural Network · Pattern Classification · Systems · Technology

Build for Us, Hope They Might Use It

March 29th, 2021 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips We usually build things for ourselves. We then hope that someone else will use what we build. Sometimes we adapt to doing it right; sometimes not. A recent story related how we want 80-somethings to register for and then receive the virus vaccine. “All you have to do” is go online and… […]

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Tags: Design · General Systems Thinking · People · Systems

Bias in AI or Just Another Bad Idea?

February 18th, 2021 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Once again, someone creates all sorts of fancy explanations for what was simply a bad idea poorly conducted. There seems to be a lot of “bias” in the machine learning area of artificial intelligence research and practice. Or can we explain the problems without using such fancy terms like “bias?” What were […]

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Tags: Analysis · General Systems Thinking · Management · Problems · Process · Science · Systems