Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

A partial list of boo boos I have seen in published documents over the years. If anyone had read these things, surely they would have found these things. Right?

I guess an editor or someone like that should have read this, but it appears that no one did. Here is a partial list (I cannot list them all, even a blog post wouldn’t hold that):

• Copyright notice on public domain information (especially on software)
• The same diagram put in 40 different figures instead of 40 different diagrams in 40 different figures
• One document containing different version numbers in the headings of different pages
• No dates
• No authors
• Redundant phrases redundantly used introducing redundancy

Did someone read this before hitting the Print button? Perhaps if someone had, these mistakes would have been corrected. Then again, these mistakes aren’t “critical” or some other adjective that means “we cannot possibly let people know we (don’t) care about these things.”

I think published documents should be correct. I have felt that way for years. It may be some type of birth defect. Is there a medicine for that malady? Let’s all try to do better.

by Dwayne Phillips

Once again, the world swings into yet another crisis. Many persons with good intentions intend to reduce the crisis by limiting what other persons can say and write about it. Nothing new here.

We used to have silly liars. The National Enquirer is one great example. Hillary Clinton had an alien baby and the like. Silly lies.

Now we have silly and not-so-silly liars. Those folks spread misinformation, i.e., stuff that isn’t true. The spreaders of such lies may not know the truth, so they merely repeat whatever they hear. Anyways, persons with good intentions react in horror at misinformation. The “masses” (I think I am part of the masses, but I’m not sure as I haven’t checked to see if I am paid up in my masses fees) should not be exposed to such misinformation as the masses will believe the misinformation and flock to where ever it is that Hillary Clinton keeps her alien baby.

And we also have mean liars. These people lie to hurt other people. The mean liars know they are lying, but that doesn’t matter as they will do whatever is required to hurt others. These liars spread disinformation (note it starts with “d” not “m”). Disinformation seeks to hurt. Disinformation creators and spreaders are mean liars.

Persons with good intentions react in horror at the disinformation creators. It seems that lying with great intent is more horrific than lying with small intent. Lying some lies is worse than lying some other lies. I think? Then again, I always thought a liar was a liar, but perhaps I was naive.

Hmmm, seems that don’t have anything new here. Some persons lie “little white lies;” some persons lie bigger lies, and some persons just downright hate others so they lie about them. Perhaps I need to update my dictionary of new words or something. Perhaps I should calibrate my reactions to horrible events and persons. I struggle to keep up with all this new stuff or stuff that isn’t new but some people act as if it is new.

Enough reactionary thoughts of a tired old man.

by Dwayne Phillips

The old saying about not having time to do it once still holds. Perhaps we will learn one day.

There is an old saying about not having the time to do something right, but always having the time to do it over and over and over and… I’m not sure who said that first. Perhaps someone in the BC era.

It is unfortunate, but this old saying is still common practice. Something must be completed by tomorrow, so let’s just do this. Perhaps the next person in line will accept what we hurriedly did and life will move on. Perhaps they will “kick it back” and we have to do it over. Doing it over means it will be completed a week from tomorrow. Wait, I thought it “had to be done tomorrow.”

Gosh. What are we doing? Something had to be done tomorrow, but then a week from tomorrow was okay. We knew we were doing a poor job. No one will notice poor quality, right? If no one notices poor quality, what are we doing? And why were we only given one day to do something that is important to someone? Questions and questions.

Yes. What are we doing? Does this thing really need to be done at all? Perhaps we could stop, call someone, and ask. Let’s be candid. Tomorrow’s product will be lousy. Do we have the time to do well? If tomorrow’s product is lousy, will we be given more time? Perhaps we could just have two days to do it well instead of a week to do it poorly and then do it well?

We can do better than this. Let’s all give it a try.

by Dwayne Phillips

Everyone claims agreement. Great. Let’s just test that statement with a blank sheet of paper.

The beginning of this post is copied from a post a couple years back. Then we pick up with a different test.

“We all agree on what we are to do!” claimed a person full of hope and anxious to get to work.

“Wow, great,” said a second person who likes to hear good news, but is skeptical when hearing that, “Everyone is in agreement.”

“Let’s confirm that,” suggests the second person.

The first person, pauses and stops breathing. “Well,” says the first person, “everyone is nodding, so that confirms it.”

“Maybe,” says the second person, “and since you are so confident, let’s take just a couple of minutes to confirm.”

All the persons who were nodding stop nodding and also stop breathing.

“Please,” says the second person, “No one say anything while we confirm this and no one look at what your neighbor will be writing.”

The second person gives all the agree-ers a blank sheet of paper. Each person has a pen or pencil.

“Okay,” says the second person, “everyone write the agreement on their sheet of paper. Please, no talking and no peaking at anyone else’s piece of paper. Just jot the agreement, a few lines or sentences will be fine. And don’t write your name on your paper.”

Everyone writes, and the second person collects the pieces of paper without looking at any of them. The second person shuffles the pieces of paper.

The second person randomly pulls one piece of paper, sets it face down on the table, and folds the rest of the papers.

“Okay,” says the second person holding the randomly selected piece of paper. “We will implement what is on this piece of paper word for word without further ado.”

“But wait,” interrupted the first person who was full of hope and anxious to get to work. “Let’s read it first and discuss it and make sure that it is correct and…”

“Huh?” asked the second person. “You said everyone agreed. Hence, what anyone wrote would be what everyone agreed. Let’s get to work.”

Of course the group insisted on reading what was on the piece of paper and changing every word. Of course the group had not agreed on what they wanted to do. Perhaps the little exercise helped them to understand that. Perhaps. Let’s do better.

Two minutes later, the second person collects all the pieces of paper.

by Dwayne Phillips

Sometimes some persons excel to the point where they need to be fired.

You have outgrown what we do here. You are much more capable than we need. You are fired.

Those words don’t make sense. If someone has improved and improved, we want them to stay with us, right? Perhaps not. Consider a person who does the lighting and sound for a small theater group. They are creative. They learn the current technologies. They imagine the next technologies. They can do much more than they are doing now, but they need more and better equipment to express their bountiful creativity.

We don’t have more and better stuff for them. They need to go to Las Vegas or Hollywood or someplace where the resources are available to match their ability.

You’re good. You’re too good for us. Move on and move up. You’re fired. Now go and grow.

Doesn’t make sense at first, but it makes sense later.

by Dwayne Phillips

Let’s pay attention to some basic math. We don’t like that, but we are adults, so let’s behave accordingly.

In some respects, asking, “What is 50% of 50%?” is silly.

Ask a mathematician that question. I did recently and the response was a laugh. The answer is 2,500%%.

Huh? Everyone knows that 50% is a half and a half of a half is a quarter. Well, not really. 50% is 100% times a half. This confuses me until I write it down and work through it piece by piece.

But everyone knows that 50% is a half and a half of a half is a quarter.

Sometimes it is good to step back and consider the definitions of things and work our way through the logic. Sometimes it is better to go along, because everyone knows that 50% is a half and a half of a half is a quarter.

by Dwayne Phillips

These new chattering bots like ChatGPT are great word multipliers. Do we need word multipliers? That is the question.

Try this at home:

• “Tell ChatGPT” to give me 500 words on topic X.
• Ask ChatGPT to give me the top five points of those 500 words.
• For each of the five points, tell ChatGPT to give me 500 words.

I am now up to 2,500 words in ten minutes. In another ten minutes I will have 5,000 words. In an hour I will have 50,000 words. 50,000 words is a book. There, done it. I wrote a book using a software tool in an hour.

If I push this idea, I can produce an encyclopedia in a day or two.

But wait, I already have an encyclopedia. Why do I want to make another one? ChatGPT mimics the world’s encyclopedias. Did we do anything there or just mimic a mimic and end where we started?

I’m starting to confuse myself.

These chattering things are great at multiplying words. Start with a sentence and have a book in an hour. Wow! I guess that is an accomplishment. Or is it? Is that book worth having? These are too many questions for a rainy Saturday morning.

by Dwayne Phillips

Learning is good as it leads to better performance and other beneficial things. There are tools available that accelerate learning. Let’s use those.

I try to learn. Sometimes I forget to learn. Yes, fatigue clobbers my mind and I simply forget to notice things, store them, and use them.

There are tools that help me to learn. These tools accelerate learning. Some examples:

Keep 3×5 cards and a pencil in my shirt pocket at all times. See something; note it.

Wear a charm bracelet. Each charm on the bracelet is a reminder of something that I might otherwise forget.

Keep cheat sheets in a notebook that is always with me. What was that four-key shortcut to do something important? It’s on the cheat sheet. What was that question that I should ask at the end of a meeting? It’s on the cheat sheet.

Wear a great big set of notes on a sleeve. Hey, pro athletes who are paid $20 million a year wear them. Why can’t I?

A shirt that has all the important reminders printed on it upside down. When I glance down at me odd shirt, I can read the reminders.

Put a picture of someone I respect on the wall of the conference room. That person is watching me while I’m in meetings. That person would tell me, “Dwayne, don’t forget to …”

The list can continue. The list is different for every person. Accelerate learning. We can do this.

by Dwayne Phillips

Sometimes, the better way to do something isn’t as much fun.

A few years ago, I wrote a book on software project management. I began the book with the words, “I like to write software.” I did and still do like to write software. I am simulating a machine that does wonderful things for people to improve their lives. Great stuff.

I went on in the book to note that, well, sometimes someone was paying me to accomplish something that they wanted. They were paying the bill and they expected some efficiency and the like.

But, efficiency and the like (do it right the first time) was sometimes just plain “no fun.”

Take time and care and do it right the first time. That is if someone else is paying you to do it that way. If I am independently wealthy, I can do it the fun way all the time. It is generally helpful to understand the difference between the two situations and act accordingly.

by Dwayne Phillips

Once a meeting ends, the after meeting begins and the real work is done. Can we do this better?

I’ve seen it a thousand times—literally a thousand times. I’ve attended that many meetings. The meeting has its agenda and participants. The meeting is conducted. We are finished.

People stay in the room or the hallway just outside the room or (my least favorite) in the bathroom down the hall. “Ya’ know,” begins the after-meeting conversation, “I was thinking while we were talking in the meeting, and …”

What ensues is the best exchange of ideas all day. The after meeting brings much better information to a limited audience than the meeting did.

Several thoughts:

• Maybe the limited audience of the after meeting was a smaller, better size.
• Maybe the limited audience of the after meeting had just the right people and no one else.
• Maybe the actual meeting should have had scheduled quiet times where people could think before the next topic was raised.
• Maybe the agenda of the actual meeting was wrong.
• Maybe the actual meeting was designed to limit thought and ideas.
• Maybe we are doing the actual meetings all wrong.

Perhaps the last bullet summarizes all of this: we are doing the meetings all wrong. The free form of the after meeting is a much better format for thought and ideas.

Let’s do better. Here is one suggestion; at some point in the actual meeting (on the agenda) someone stands and says, “We aren’t having any after meetings. This is it, folks. Let’s take a five-minute break (actually timed) with no talking during the break. After the break, we will chat like we usually do in after meetings. Let’s officially capture all those usually-said-in-the-after-meetings thoughts. And, there will be a 24-hour period where anyone can add to the meeting notes with an email or something.”

Let’s do better.