Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

There are many aspects to working from home or at the office. One is simply the time wasted commuting.

Folks are returning to the office after the pandemic. They are? Are they saying they are, but not really?

One simple aspect of the question is commuting. I live in he Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C. These suburbs stretch for dozens of miles to the west and south of the District of Columbia. While a few of us have offices in “the District,” most are now working from offices in Virginia. A few of us work from offices in Maryland across the Potomac River. Those commutes are just as bad as commuting into the District.

The commute is bad. One hour to work. One hour home. People are paid for eight hours work and work eleven hours. That is a 25% cut in pay.

Well, what do you want? This is America. This is chasing the American dream. This is just the way it is and just do it.

Then we had a pandemic. We worked from home over the Internet with those ZoomerTeams meetings. Get stuff done happened as we got stuff done. More or less productive? Are you kidding? The fact is, no one knows how to measure productivity for these office (and especially these government-related) jobs. Hence, claims of greater or lesser productivity are just that—claims. Nothing was measured before, during, or after the pandemic.

What was measurable and measured was the time of day. Those two hours of commute time were easy to measure. What was measurable and measured were the expense. The credit card bill showing gasoline bought at the station was easy to measure. The money spent at the lunch place at work was easy to measure.

Worried about productivity? In Washington, D.C.? Are you kidding?

This aspect of work from home is pretty simple. If employees are spending hours a day commuting, they will want to work from home most of the time.

There are other aspects of the discussion that are more complicated. More to come on those.

by Dwayne Phillips

Sometimes we meet someone who lacks the ability to do something. How do we react?

As I write this post, I am having one of those weeks when I have the inability to do something simple. For some reason, I woke one day this week with a sore left knee. The next day, that knee was swollen and it hurt like the dickens to bend it. I could not put a sock on my left foot without tears of pain rolling down my face. Tying the shoelace on the left shoe was unthinkable.

I had an inability.

Go to work. See someone hobble in on crutches, and we immediately offer to carry their cup of coffee for them. Of course we do; that is how a nice person reacts when another person has an inability. Right?

And then I see someone who cannot write the first sentence they are supposed to write. Do I immediately grab another one of their jobs so they can concentrate on that one sentence? Do I immediately offer to work around their inability? Well, uh, er…

Too often I scoff or complain or something. Would I complain if they hobbled in on crutches after a weekend auto accident? Of course not. But in this case…

We all have inabilities from time to time. I see inabilities in others. How do I react? I can do better. We all can.

by Dwayne Phillips

One key to learning how to juggle is to know how to drop something. The same is true for managing competing priorities and tasks.

Just about every “Help Wanted” ad I see has something in it about managing competing priorities or managing multiple tasks. I guess they want someone who can decide when to work on this instead of work on that.

Consider juggling, you know, tossing three or more balls in the air and catching them and so on. One of the keys to juggling is dropping a ball or just letting it fall to the ground and continue juggling the rest. If the juggler makes an extraordinary effort to retrieve an errant toss, everything falls apart. The extraordinary effort disturbs the balance and makes it impossible to continue to juggle the other balls.

Just let the ball fall to the ground and keep the other balls going.

The same lesson applies to juggling or managing tasks. Sometimes you just let a task fall to the ground. Using extraordinary efforts to keep that falling task going throws all the other tasks into chaos. Soon, all the tasks fail. Let one of them drop and keep the rest moving.

The same concept applies to many endeavors. Too many bills to pay? Let one of them drop to keep the others paid on time. Too many of anything? Let one drop to keep the others in good stead.

I hate this advice. I only tackle things that I can handle. I don’t admit failure and let something drop. Silly me. I have to get over that perfection rule and live in the real world. Let a ball fall to the ground.

by Dwayne Phillips

Three generations ago, an eight-year-old told us the reason for the season.

The most-heard sermon of all time was delivered by an 8-year-old boy voicing a cartoon in 1965. Christopher Shea spoke the words below in A Charlie Brown Christmas. That sermon has been heard by millions or hundreds of millions of persons in the sixty years since. It isn’t a long sermon. It is a profound sermon.

The sermon follows.

Linus: “And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”

Here is the sermon:

by Dwayne Phillips

Let us mean what we say and say what we mean. Sometimes that requires too much effort. The effort is worth it if we want others to take us seriously.

You know what I mean, huh? You get my drift, right? Just go along with me on this one.

And then one day, someone else makes a face when I say something. They turn their back on me and walk away never to return. Huh? Don’t they get it?

No, the other person doesn’t “get it.” There has been to much hem and haw (do people still use that expression?) and arm waving and funny looks on my face in an attempt to convey information. I have repeatedly not meant what I said and said what I meant. I just sort of gave impressions for a long time.

Clear thought and speech are not easy. Clear thought and speech just don’t fit with some persons. “Be in this specific place at this specific time with these specific things in at hand.” Gosh, that is a lot of effort. Isn’t close enough good enough?

Sometimes close enough is good enough. Often, close enough is good enough. There is, however, a point when close enough is tiresome—tiresome enough to end a relationship (the old, “flip the bozo bit” expression).

We have a dire situation. Specific measures will solve the situation. Close enough won’t be good enough.

Let’s do better. Clear thought and speech require effort. We can do that. We can mean what we say and say what we mean.

by Dwayne Phillips

There is so much information available to us, what do we do? Wait, there are also so many great summaries of information available to us. It is easier than ever to know a little. Is that a good thing?

It is easier than ever to know a little:

• Google something
• Read the first paragraph of a Wikipedia page
• Ask ChatGPT et al for a 100-word summary
• And more

It is still just as hard to know something in detail and depth. That takes time. Study a while; contemplate a while, and repeat with periods of writing and exploring ideas interspersed.

Naw, let’s just toss out a few buzzwords and blurbs. That’s much easier, and other folks really don’t want to know much.

Explain and understand in depth? Someone else will do that.

We can do better. Let’s try.

by Dwayne Phillips

We continue to use too much jargon. Are we illiterate or just too lazy to type words?

I am reviewing materials for a certification. Gosh, I am too old for this, but whatever. I won’t mention the name of the certification. I you continue reading this post, you can probably guess which one it is.

Studying for this, and most, certifications is an exercise in memorizing jargon or terms that people who work in these fields like to use as abbreviations for things that would otherwise make sense. Here is an example:

Given a situation, what would be a good first step in the analysis?

• pharming
• threat hunting
• footprinting
• war flying

Instead of using meaningless jargon, how about we write a sentence describing these analysis steps so that a thinking adult can decide what to do? Well, I can think of at least two explanations for the use of jargon. (Given more time, I am sure we can find more explanations.)

• Using a made-up term relieves me of typing ten or twenty words. All that typing is hard work.
• Using a made-up term relieves me of thinking about what I want to say and saying what I have thought. All that thinking is hard work.

Hmmm, there seems to be a desire to avoid hard work. I sure avoid hard work when easy work is available. Still, some worthwhile things come from hard work.

Folks who work in niche fields like to have their own jargon. The jargon defines their identity. If you know why “biff” was an early necessity in the email world, you are kin to me. We can bond over that. That feels pretty good. It is simply too bad for others if they don’t understand are side conversations. They aren’t us.

Please speak and write in English. It isn’t that difficult and it greatly improves communication. Let’s do better.

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 representatives several times each week.

Sometimes a meeting was worth the expense of all those salaries for that hour or so. Often, however, it was a waste.

Many meetings can be replaced by a newsletter, wiki, blog, etc. Here is information I want everyone else to know. I put it on an “information radiator” for all to see. Done. No need for a meeting.

I want us to work through something. Good, let’s have a facilitated meeting and “git ‘er done.”

I just want to sit with my colleagues and talk. Good, let’s go to Chotskie’s, have some coffee, something to eat, and talk.

Let’s think about what we want to do and do it better. We can do that, right?

NOTE: Chotskie’s was the name of that restaurant in the movie “Office Space.” (1999)

by Dwayne Phillips

A text without a context is a pretext. Know the audience. Sorry, these are old basics but they still apply.

“Do you know who I am?”

That question is a biting indictment of a person who approaches another in ignorance and starts talking in grand fashion about what might be grand ideas, but probably are not. It is also a biting indictment of the person asking the question. “Surely, sir, if you recognized me and my importance you would not be speaking as you are.” Arrogance.

Enough questions. Now for some answers.

Context when attempting to convey information is important. Knowing the audience is important. Start talking without these, and it just won’t work.

Know the audience. Know what the audience knows. Don’t waste their time telling them something they already know. Put the information in context. It is possible to discuss matters already known by the audience if a new facet of the information is also discussed. “We all know that water boils at 212° F, but we have learned how to change that with new techniques and that brings us to a new perspective on our organization. Please, lend an ear.”

Context. Audience. Old concepts for communication, but they still apply.

by Dwayne Phillips

Most of us received many instructions in childhood. Now that we are in adulthood, are we still tying ourselves to instructions meant for children?

Here is something I was told as a child (and I have told many children): Look both ways before crossing the street.

I still recommend this instruction for adults.

How about this one: don’t talk to strangers.

I don’t recommend this one for adults. In the course of a job, I need to talk to many people I don’t know, i.e., strangers.

When I am doing something as an adult and having lots of difficulty from that, am I being childish? Am I following a rule told to me in childhood that I should discard as an adult? I can do many things after eating without waiting an hour. I don’t need a nap everyday (well, at this point I want a nap everyday, but some people frown on sleeping at work at my desk). I can see what I need to see, hear what I need to hear, and then decide if it is for me.

The list of childhood rules that I can discard as an adult is long. Let’s be aware of it.