Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

In government, we loved the org chart. We loved it so much that we often forgot that the org chart was not the people.

The org chart is a representation of how we organize persons. The org chart is just a picture, not the reality.

Often, in soft matters, we confuse the picture with the reality.

Accompanying the org chart is a job description of what every person shown in the org chart is supposed to do. Here is a little (not so) secret:

If I don’t want to do what the job description says, I can not do it (and get away with this malfeasance).

I can stay in my job and ignore the org chart and the job description.

In some organizations, the persons behave like adults. They understand that org charts and job descriptions show ideal situations. They understand that the ideal exists now and then, but not often.

They understand that the persons sitting in the chairs accomplish the work.

In my experience, it is much better to work with adults.

by Dwayne Phillips

There is the thing we are attempting and the way we are attempting it. Using this perspective, there are four cases to consider.

Wrong Thing – Wrong Way: Here we chose the wrong problem to solve and the wrong process to solve it. Aargh. We will work very hard with grievous vexation every day. Eventually, we will declare victory, but nothing will happen because we accomplished something that no one wants.

Wrong Thing – Right Way: We chose the wrong problem, but chose the right process to solve it. Things go well every day. We are elated when we finish but terribly deflated when we notice that no one cares. Actually, everyone else questions why we wasted so much effort on such a meaningless thing.

Right Thing – Wrong Way: We choose a worthwhile problem, but choose the wrong process to solve it. Back to the daily grievous vexation. At least when we finish some one appreciates us.

Right Thing – Right Way: We choose a worthwhile problem and approach it with the correct process. The work proceeds smoothly and people appreciate what we produce. I suppose this case occurs about 5% of the time.

My Advice: Think about what we do and how we do it before we spend more than 15 minutes working on it.

by Dwayne Phillips

My experiences teach me that younger technologists are much better at predicting the future than older technologists.

Go back to 2007. I am working in a group that looks at technology trends so we can be ready for the future when it comes. We were considering operating systems for smartphones. The senior managers kept telling us to be ready for Microsoft Windows on the smartphone. The young engineers working with me all twisted their faces in confusion. Microsoft? Are you kidding? Microsoft OS on a smartphone?

To the younger engineers, Microsoft was like IBM to the older engineers. An interesting part of history, but not part of the future.

Fast forward to 2013: what OSs dominate smartphones? Android and iOS. Microsoft? Not there.

When attempting to predict the future, here is a tip: ask young(er) people. After all, the younger technologists make the future.

by Dwayne Phillips

Facial recognition software can (probably) detect emotional reactions. We enter the age of the real-time political poll and its (largely unintended) consequences.

A recent study delves into the use of facial recognition software in education. I like the idea. Have the computer detect confusion, frustration, etc. in students using computer-based training or online learning. Provide this information to the educator so that learning is enhanced.

And then my mind wanders to some other uses. How about real-time political polling? A politician is giving a speech on TV and the net. Face cameras on computers and smartphones monitor the expressions of those watching the speech. The speaker is given real-time information about the reactions of the watchers. The speech changes in real-time so that the speaker is perceived favorably.

What’s the harm? That is open to debate. What are the outcomes? Who knows. We enter the era of real-time political polls. Watch out.

by Dwayne Phillips

A  practice in government was labeling people. It was a lazy but oft-used practice. Happenstance was the main source of labels.

I worked in government 28 years. Managers were often overwhelmed with things to do. Much of the “work” was self-created, but that is another story for another time. Anyways, one result of being overwhelmed was that the managers often labeled people quickly and those labels stuck.

One way of dividing people, especially engineers, was as either (1) a manager of established projects or (2) a creator of new projects. I was labeled a manager of established projects. It was easy to acquire the label. The basic process was:

1. I was managing an established project.
2. A manager walked in.
3. The manager noticed me doing a good job at managing an established project.
4. I was given the label.

Yes, that is a sophisticated as it got. When you walked in, I was doing X and doing it well. Hence, you labeled me as an X.

Part of the fallacy of this process (there are many fallacies in it) is that a person can only be good at one thing. There is no overlap among groups – that simply is not possible.

Side Note: Beware of anything regarding people that is simply not possible. People tend to break everything that is simply not possible.

If you walk in a room and see someone do a job and doing it well, do not assume that they are a specialist in that job. It just happened to be what they were doing when you happened to walk in the room. There is no more and no less there.

by Dwayne Phillips

I stumble upon yet another source of story ideas.

I like to write short stories. I have more ideas than time and energy to write them. A few weeks ago I stumbled upon yet another source of story ideas.

1. Go to a McDonald’s somewhere where you never go
2. Observe people
3. Make up stories

For example, a few weeks ago I was in a McDonald’s at a crossroad, not a town just a crossroad, called Opal, Virginia. I observed:

1. Two men in the 50s sitting with a ten-year-old girl
2. Three women in their 70s (two white, one black)
3. Three men in their 40s wearing t-shirts, shorts, and flip flops (we were no where near a beach or any other water)

Now, start the stories:

Ed and Mel entered McDonald’s with Lisa. They were both 40 years older than Lisa and neither was related by blood to her. Still, they were compelled to escort her because…

Mabel, Jean, and Misty stopped at a McDonald’s. It was that limbo time at McDonald’s when they almost stopped serving breakfast and almost started serving lunch. They tried to order breakfast, but were denied. Mabel and Jean, conditioned by 60 years of their lives, turned to Misty and …

Billy, Bobby, and Cal fell out of their Chrysler mini van and stumbled across the parking lot into the McDonald’s. They rubbed their eyes, squinted, and tried to find let alone read the menu board. Billy looked at the other two and asked, “Why…?”

Or start them some other way. Writer’s block? Doesn’t exist for me.

by Dwayne Phillips

Another age-old motivation technique that should probably go away.

It was 30 years ago (yes, I am that old). The big boss of the organization was excited. A competing organization was trying to build a new product just like we were trying to build. By the way, we were both government organizations and therefore redundant organizations. Hence, we were wasting money, but that is another story for another day.

Anyways, the big boss saw this competition as a way to, “get us going.” His comment was:

Nothing like a little competition to get the creative juices flowing.

Like almost anything, there is some merit to this statement. I find much  more merit to the statement:

Since we are both government organizations (funded by the same taxpayers), let’s pool our resources and combine the best ideas from both organizations into one superior product.

The second statement was never spoken. We went head to head in competition. The result was a product that was pretty good, but cost the taxpayers more than twice what it should have.

Competition and Creativity

I don’t hold to the idea that competition spurs creativity. I find that to be something a caveman would grunt. The “competitive juices” manager was promoted, but that is just another example of an incompetent manager being promoted out of the way of people who worked hard to earn their pay.

I find that imagination spurs creativity. I find that fun spurs imagination. I find that happy, motivated people do good jobs while people who are told, “either do it great or you’ll be fired” feel pressure pushing down on their brain. I have yet to find anyone who thinks well with someone squishing their brain.

by Dwayne Phillips

If you write 1,000 words a day, you will write 365,000 words in a year. That is about five novels or a hundred short stories. And that requires typing words for only one hour a day.

I like to read the blog of author Dean Wesley Smith. He recently wrote about a topic that he mentions several times a year – the math of freelance writing. It is a simple topic – write so many words an hour, multiply by the number of hours you write a day, multiply by the number of days you work a year, and there you have it.

Given the math, a writer can write five to ten novels a year or several hundred short stories a year.

What is the catch?

There is not catch. Smith’s math is correct; Smith’s logic is correct. You just have to sit in a chair, put your hands on the keyboard, and pound out the words.

Ideas? They are everywhere. Motivation? That is up to the person. I guess that is what supports the writers from those who want to be writers. Maybe not.

I like Smith’s recent blog post in that he has changed the description from writing speed to writing work ethic. That is a good reframe in that many people feel that if you write fast, you write poorly. Now we can talk about working hard – or something like that.

by Dwayne Phillips

I was looking at the calendar and noticed that this blog would appear on the 4th of July. Well, why should I write about anything but America on the 4th of July?

Happy Birthday America. We have lots of problems here, and some people are pessimistic about how many more birthdays America will have. Enjoy everyday if you live here or if you enjoy benefits that America bestows on the world. Yes, America, like just about every nation, does bestow some benefits on the world.

by Dwayne Phillips

I am bit by a large dog. What is worse, I could not write about it.

I went on a short walk recently. The big event of the walk was that a large dog walked up to me and bit me on the right forearm. All things considered, I was fortunate. The odd thing is that I once took a 1,000-mile walk without incident. Here I walked six miles and was bitten.

For the rest of the day, my right arm was swollen and hurt like it had been smacked with a baseball bat. I couldn’t grip a pen; I couldn’t type on a keyboard.

I was experiencing something completely new in my life and I couldn’t write about it!

That was the worse part of the day – I couldn’t write about it. I was worried about forgetting all the feelings and thoughts and everything. I guess that says something about me and writing and all that stuff.

As for the dog, I have little ill feelings towards her. She was harmed in no way. At least I think not. I may have hurt her jaws with the thrust of my forearm.