Working Up

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.

by Dwayne Phillips

Bad things happen in the lives of employees. Other employees are asked to show consideration. This works for a short while. Managers need to act properly and quickly.

Many years ago, I went to a fellow employee to retrieve some information from an equipment inventory. It was a mess. The guy didn’t have the right information, wouldn’t correct his mistakes, and dismissed me to those places that folks are dismissed to when someone just doesn’t want to talk to them.

I explained what happened to another co-worker. “Oh,” said the other co-worker, “his wife died two weeks ago. They had been married 40 years. He is grieving. He hasn’t been the same since. Please consider his situation.”

Of course that was a tragedy. Of course the man was grieving. Of course he wasn’t doing his job as well as he had always done it. And, of course, I needed information from the inventory system so that I could satisfy the dozens of persons who also needed it. I needed this man or someone else to do his job.

Bad things happen in the lives of employees. Of course we need to consider their losses and their time of grieving. And of course, the job still has to be done. Sometimes I can make up for the other person’s loss and do their job for them. Sometimes I cannot.

Here is where we the managers do our jobs. Other employees can make up for the loss of work from a grieving person. That, however, has its limits. Those limits are smaller than most of us managers would like.

If managers want to allow a person to grieve, do something. (1) Put another person in the job for a while. (2) Continue to pay the grieving person while not charging them paid time off. Those things cost money. Some organizations have the money to afford such. Some organizations don’t.

If an organization is going to allow grieving, pay for it. No excuses. No, “Hey, please consider the situation and do more than you are required and continue to do more for a long time because we the managers won’t do our jobs.”

Bad things happen. Managing the work when bad things happen isn’t easy. It is, however, something managers are paid to do. Let’s do better.

by Dwayne Phillips

Sometimes it is worth the effort to identify the noun and the adjective.

This is an educated guess. The word “guess” is a noun. The word “educated” is an adjective. Nouns are usually facts (a tree is a tree). Adjectives are usually chosen by a person and are subjective (what is a majestic tree to one person is an overgrown tree to another person).

An educated guess is what one person chooses to describe a situation. Another person might call it a foolhardy guess. Still, we are all discussing a guess.

“A guess is a swift conclusion drawn from data directly at hand, and held as probable or tentative, while the person making the guess admittedly lacks material for a greater degree of certainty.” (Wikipedia)

We lack material to be certain, so we guess. Well, yes, I am guessing, but I am educated and I…

Nope, still guessing. Don’t have enough information to make a critical decision.

Let’s admit what we know and don’t know. That shouldn’t hurt much. We can do better.

by Dwayne Phillips

Sometimes we simply have to lower expectations when it comes to what other people will do. Too bad. We can do better.

It happened again the other day at work. I needed signatures on paper, or at least the digital equivalent of them. It was all set. Go to this building on this day, read this, sign that. Done.

Well, it didn’t work as planned. The folks who were supposed to be in the building on the appointed day were not. I had to drive an hour one way to another building.

Sigh, it seems like we are constantly “lowering the bar.” That is one expression of “lowering expectations.” Don’t expect others to do as they say, at least not on a consistent basis. Always have a backup plan. If those folks aren’t doing their job, have at least one other group of folks who might do the job for them.

It seems like we could do better. I know we can. Come one, let’s all try a little harder and do a little more. We should expect and receive better from one another.

by Dwayne Phillips

There are two essentials for an employee. Given the job market, it appears that the great majority of employers don’t understand these essentials.

I have been on both sides of the hiring and being hired world. I find two and only two essentials:

1. Job skills
2. Work ethic

Okay, that’s it. Next?

The trouble is, it is quite troublesome to determine these two in a job applicant.

There are “tests” that employers want to give to job applicants. It is unfortunate that some employers’ “tests” are actual work they need accomplished. The test is a way to have an applicant work for free. Most applicants don’t know this. Those who do understand how this works are happy to bribe employers to have a chance at a job.

The work ethic part is more difficult to determine. Yes, this person knows who to do the job, but do they arrive on time? Do they work a full day? Does it take them an hour to sit and start working? Do they spend most of the day running a football pool? There are many questions that attempt to measure work ethic.

Sigh. This ought to be easier. Sorry. It isn’t. Still, come back to these two things.

by Dwayne Phillips

Electric vehicles have some good qualities. They are still, however, not practical as the mass consumer market shows. Darn. Don’t you hate it when facts mug a good idea?

Sitting here in a coffee shop, typing blogs, sipping coffee and looking out the picture window at a clear sky, I note a person parking their Tesla in front of the coffee shop. Wow. What a cool car. It makes no noise; it burns no gasoline, and its a golf cart that goes 70 miles an hour for several hundred miles. Oh, and it costs a lot of money.

Hate to toss in that last sentence, but there we have it.

I see many Tesla’s in my wanderings about my neighborhoods. I live in Reston, Virginia. This is a planned community about 20 miles from Washington, D.C. High-paying jobs abound here. We live in $600,000 (or is it $700,000—I lose track) plastic sided houses with tiny bedrooms. Just the property taxes on my plastic house cost me more than a mortgage in many parts of the country.

All that is to say, “Rich folks live here.” It is no coincidence that this area has more Tesla vehicles running about than everywhere in the country save one or two other places inhabited by rich folks.

A Tesla is a neat toy for rich folks. A Tesla is a luxury vehicle. If you want one and can afford it, buy one. Good on you.

Still, a Tesla is a neat toy for rich folks. Most Americans are not “rich” (whatever rich is). A Vehicle is part of a mass-market market in America. The electric vehicle fits into a little niche of that market. There has always been a little luxury market in the vehicle market.

Well, given the luxury vehicles are electric, one day costs will come down and vehicles driven by everyday plain old folks will be electric as well. We shall see. Until then, a Tesla is a neat toy for rich folks.