Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

There are a lot of changes I would like to see in other people. Despite that, the one person I can change is me.

I read many blog posts describing how to change people who need to be changed. Of course they need to be changed (not); they are keeping me from being esteemed as highly as deserved.

Let’s write this once:

The one person I can change is me.

Situation:  So-and-so acts such-and-such all the time, and that distracts me.

Change: Learn not to be distracted by such-and-such.

Situation: My boss yells too much.

Change: Learn to ignore yelling.

Situation: My office mate is selfish.

Change: Learn new expectations of my office mate.

Reply: Dwayne, you are putting everything on yourself and not requiring other people to act like adults.

Reply to Reply: That may be true, but I can’t change other people. I can change me.

by Dwayne Phillips

I was once told that “silence is agreement” and that “everyone who has a brain knows that.” I disagree. Silence is silence. If you want to know what is behind silence, ask.

It was 20 years ago. I had sat through some meeting on some forgotten topic where I rolled my eyes quietly at the, what I strongly believed, nonsense that was proposed and adopted. A week later, I presented a different idea in another meeting. It was as if I had fill-in-the-blank-with-something-horrid. I was pulled aside and firmly told:

You were in the meeting. You didn’t say anything, and silence is agreement.

What? Silence is agreement? Yes. Everyone knew that. I knew that, I was silent, I agreed and turned coat on everyone there. I should be ashamed.

Well, no one had told me that rule. Besides, that rule didn’t make any sense. How could silence be agreement? Silently nodding yes could be agreement, but silently sitting still? Agreement?

I recently read something about meetings and working through conflict. The advice was,

Treat silence as disagreement.

The idea is that if someone sits silently in a meeting, stop and ask them what they think about the topic of discussion. Ask them specifically if they agree or disagree or something else (there is always something else). No assumptions; no unwritten rules.

Here, now, I will write a Rule:

Silence is silence.

If you want to know what is behind silence, ask.

by Dwayne Phillips

The Rule of Three Solutions: one solution is a trap, two solutions is a dilemma, and three solutions helps point to more solutions.

A recent post by a friend – Johanna Rothman – reminded me of this rule. It is part of a general idea of finding at least three thoughts in almost any situation. Some examples include:

1. Find at least three solutions
2. Find at least three things wrong with a solution
3. Find three things to discuss about this three things concept
4. Have three plus one bullets in a list (I made that one up just now 😉

This all goes back to a thought that if you haven’t thought of at least three what-evers, you haven’t thought enough.

by Dwayne Phillips

People sometimes ask me if I am writing another book. I always answer, “Yes.”

I like to write. I like to write books. Now and then, some of my friends will ask if I am writing another book. I consider the following as some of the things I do while writing another book.

• being awake
• breathing
• talking
• listening
• walking
• taking a shower
• make notes
• JOURNALing
• more JOURNALing
• reading
• more journaling
• more reading
• sleeping at night
• taking lessons in childhood from my grandkids
• sleeping on Saturday and Sunday afternoons
• more journaling

So, when people ask about writing another book, I always answer, “Yes.”

by Dwayne Phillips

America breeds misfits. These people sit in the back of the classroom and laugh. Then they grow up and invent things that no one else imagined.

Part of the genius of America is that we breed misfits. These persons sit in the back of the classroom. Some of them laugh all day at the teacher. Some of them have headaches all day in the classroom and lay their head on the desk until they can go home.

These misfits grow up and spread out across the country. They awake one day to find themselves in the Army, in college, in tech companies, in law, in business, in entertainment, in everywhere.

They create (among other things):

• Apple
• Google
• comic book
• music
• satellites
• Autonomous vehicles  (air, ground, underwater)
• football
• surf boards
• slam dunk contests
• skateboards
• Mickey Mouse
• Rock n Roll
• Coca Cola
• split finger fastballs

God bless America.

by Dwayne Phillips

I had been using a Unix command for Mac backups. My recent experience with a dead disk drive showed that the strategy didn’t quite work.

I don’t like commercial products that make backups for disks. My worry is that the backup data are useless without the product to unpack them. Hence, for my iMac desktop computer, for several years I have used a BASH script based on the Unix (Linux OSiX – take your pick) rsynch command.

My script worked. All the files were on a backup disk. The fault lay in the applications and how they reside on an OS X computer. Why can’t they simply sit on the disk. No, there are some other files and bytes and such here and there on the computer’s disk. You have to know where they all are in order to restore them correctly.

I suppose the problems were my own doing for not understanding all the intricacies.

Henceforth, I am using Apple’s Time Machine product for backups. It is simple to use. I am not happy with this, but I’ll have to get over my unhappiness and just concentrate on my writing.

by Dwayne Phillips

One planning technique that has worked for me is to start at the end and work my way backwards.

I am a planner. There, got that out of the way. I have practiced planning for years and after all that I am pretty good at it. Recent discussions on the topic of planning have led me to realize that few people know about one of my favorite methods of planning. Hence, here is a short description in a blog post. Simply, the idea is:

Start at the end and work your way back to where you are now.

Here is an example. You are planning a picnic. The end state, where you want to be, is:

• Picnic ground
• Date
• Food
• Games
• Attendees

Now, what do you have to do to reach this end state? Let’s just look at “Picnic ground.” A task that precedes the end state is “Reserve a picnic ground.” Some one has to do that. Pick someone and assign them that task. A task that must precede “Reserve a picnic ground” is “Choose a picnic ground.” Assign someone that task. A task that must precede “Choose a picnic ground” is “Create a list of possible picnic grounds.” Assign someone that task. A task that must precede “Create a list of possible picnic grounds” is “Decide what types of activities you want to do.” For example, do you want to row canoes around a lake or go ice skating or play sand volleyball or go bowling or so on. Keep working backwards until you reach the point where you are today.

I hope the above illustration shows how to start at the end and work you way backwards. Do the above for each of the major items in the bullet list. Soon you will have a bunch of tasks. I suggest you write each task on 3×5 cards or other slips of paper with only one task per card. Arrange the tasks in a logical order. Now you have a plan for hosting a picnic.

Sure, a picnic is simple. Most enterprise work is more difficult. The idea of starting at the end and working backwards is appropriate for large and complex projects. I have been involved in planning hundred-million-dollar, five-year projects. We used the same basic technique successfully.

by Dwayne Phillips

A reminder about models. Please take care when using them to predict the future.

George Box is credited with:

all models are wrong, but some are useful

It is a model, an approximation that helps describe real life. It is not real life. Some of these descriptions are useful to help us understand things. We need to remember, however, that every model is wrong.

Consider a watch with an analog face. A watch is a model of the time. If the watch is running, i.e., the hands are moving, it is NEVER correct. It is always off the standard time, even if it is off by only a few nanoseconds; it is off and incorrect.

Now consider the watch that is not running (dead battery, etc.). Its hands are stopped. It is exactly correct two times a day.

What would you rather have?

• A watch that is never correct, but is always fairly close.
• A watch that is correct twice a day, but most of the day is way off.

Let’s be careful in how and when we apply models to real life. Let’s especially be careful when we use models to predict the future.

by Dwayne Phillips

If it has software, it can be hacked, i.e., it is not secure. Sorry to write that, but I can’t find any way around it.

What a wonderful world. We have computers everywhere. Those computers all run software, which is nothing more than instructions written by persons. And all those persons have at least one common trait:

All those persons are imperfect.

Okay, now we have that out of the way, let’s move on.

In my daily viewing of the Internet, I often write the phrase Is everyone ready for national electronic health records? I write that phrase after noting some big security problem that has been noted somewhere on the Internet. Hackers have uncovered thousands of credit card numbers or thousands of email passwords or thousands of other pieces of information that people would rather the hackers not uncover.

Why can’t these systems be hacker proof? Why can’t we write software that is iron clad secure? Look back up a few paragraphs:

• software is written by persons
• all those persons are imperfect

You see, persons try to write secure software, but…

And then note this from a while back:

…it takes about 125 lines of code to create the typical piece of malware and it takes about 10 million lines of code to create sophisticated technologies to protect against it.

Which is easier to do, write 125 lines of code or 10 million lines of code? Which is more likely to have fewer errors?

Get the picture? Next time some politician promises that all those health records that will be online will be secure, mention this and about ten thousand other blogs that explain why those national electronic health records will not be secure.

by Dwayne Phillips

“You get what you inspect, not what you expect” (source forgotten, lesson relearned painfully too often)

Relearning can be painful. At least “learning” is in there somewhere, and I believe that learning is a fruitful use of time.

Here’s a recent conversation:

Manager: I can’t believe how bad the quality of work done by the people who work for me.

Me: You sound disappointed.

Manager: Yeah, I expected much better from them.

Me: You told them what you expected as for as quality is concerned.

Manager: Of course I did. Why I…

Me: Did their early work meet your expectations?

Manager: No! I told you how bad their work is.

Me: What was their reaction to your early discussions about the difference between your expectations and their work?

Manager: Uh, what do you mean?

Me:  Well, you said their early work didn’t meet your expectations.

Manager: Well, uh, yeah, I mean look at it.

Me: When did you know that their early work didn’t meeting you expectations?

Manager: When I looked at their work.

Me: When was that.

Manager: Yesterday

Me: When did they start producing work?

Manager: Six months ago.

Me: So, you didn’t inspect or look at any of their work for six months.

Manager: Look, these are adults. I shouldn’t have to look over their shoulder to make sure they are doing their job. I mean I do my job for my pay. They should do their job for their pay. Like I said, they are adults.

Me: Were you sure you were doing their job? It doesn’t seem that you were managing the work.

Manager: You just don’t understand.

Me: I agree.

There are many possible reasons for not meeting expectations. Some are:

• The people didn’t know the expectations (expectations not expressed)
• The people heard the expectations, but misunderstood them (expectations expressed poorly)
• The people disagreed with the expectations (expectations incorrect in the opinion of some)
• The people ignored the expectations (expectations owned by someone whom no one respected)

We could go on.

Perhaps the world would be wonderful if everyone met my expectations, i.e., if everyone worked like an adult and didn’t need me looking at their work. Perhaps not. Regardless, I get what I inspect, i.e., what I examine, what I discuss with people, what I care enough about to spend my time. Without that effort on my part, I rarely get what I expect.

And I really wish I could remember the source of “you get what you inspect, not what you expect.” Reminders from readers are appreciated.