Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

I have known people, including myself, who have nagging problems. They, including myself, have had those problems for years and have never done anything about them. These problems are handy excuses. Perhaps that is why they, including myself, keep them.

I am attending a special event this week. There were a few SNAFUs the first day. I am fortunate to know some hard working, conscientious people who worked extra hard to get me in the door. Some of the people responsible for the SNAFUs were a bit embarrassed and humbly apologetic. Others shrugged their shoulders.

That’s just the way it is around here. We get by anyways.

Backup ten years: I worked in a staff organization that provided equipment and tasking to field personnel. The field personnel cursed the crummy equipment we provided them. Yet, the field operations succeeded over 90% of the time. The field personnel prided themselves on succeeding no matter how fouled up the normal situation.

Backup twenty years. I worked with a group of people for a couple of years. They candidly proclaimed themselves to be managed by the worst group of managers in the entire Federal government. Yet, they succeeded over 90% of the time in their work no matter how fouled up the normal situation. They could do the job despite bad management, and that was a source of pride.

The special event this week, the field personnel of ten years ago, the poorly managed people from 20 years ago – they were all disorganized, plagued by bad equipment, and handicapped by terrible management.

And they didn’t do anything to fix those problems.

Pause for effect here as we absorb that. These groups of people were all pretty smart or they wouldn’t be able to perform well in the face of disorganization. Yet for all their smarts, they wouldn’t correct the fundamental problems that tugged at their pants with a load of needless difficulty.

The disorganization was almost a source of pride.

If these people had corrected the disorganization, they wouldn’t have anything to discuss during coffee breaks. Oooops, they wouldn’t have anything to discuss. Ooops, let’s change all this talk of “they” and “them” to “me.”

I have problems, not disorganization mind you, but other nagging problems. I have had most of those problems since…since I cannot remember when. I haven’t corrected those problems. If I corrected them, I wouldn’t have anything to talk about over coffee. Let’s restate that one:

If I corrected my long-standing, nagging problems, I wouldn’t have any excuses.

I guess most of us do this. We have nagging problems, and those become handy excuses for our mistakes. Perhaps this is a universal condition among us less-than-perfect people.

What to do? Think about it. After a long thought, perhaps we could remove maybe one of those little excuses.

by Dwayne Phillips

People should use the systems they build. If they don’t who will? A new concept in the military – Optionally Piloted Vehicles – once again raises the issue of using your own systems.

“Eat your own dog food.” This is an old saying in computer terms – are computers old enough to have old sayings? But I digress… The concept is that you should use your own products. If you don’t use them, why should anyone else?

Simple examples:

• Microsoft employees should use Microsoft operating systems and MS Office
• Compiler writers should use their own compilers as they write new compilers
• Car makers should drive their own brand of cars
• Public school teachers should send their kids to public schools
• Congress should obey the laws it passes …ooops, maybe this one doesn’t count?

Something I noticed this week – Optionally Piloted Vehicles or OPVs. The concept is pretty simple, and as an engineer, pretty neat. At a point in time, you move all your aircraft to “fly by wire” systems. That is, the controls the pilot moves – the stick, the pedals, the knobs – are connected to an analog-to-digital converter. All analog movements of the controls become digital signals sent to the flight-control computer.

If you can send 1s and 0s to the flight-control computer from the cockpit, you can do the same from a building a thousand miles away.

Hmm,  no need to have a pilot sitting in the cockpit. Let the pilot sit in a safe location. This is not a new concept as the technology for this has existed for a few decades. The problem, no one would buy a ticket to ride a commercial flight if the pilot was not on the plane. If the pilot would not eat his own dog food, why should the passengers?

The Optionally Piloted Vehicles are for the military. Send a helicopter on a suicide mission, but you don’t put any of your pilots at risk. That makes sense, especially if you are a pilot. There are problems with this scheme.

1. Will any passengers ever ride in these aircraft?
2. The aircraft cost a lot of money.
3. Build special-purpose aircraft cheaper instead.
4. What is less expensive, pilots or aircraft?

Asking question 4. brings a lot of problems. Is it ethical to even ask question 4?

Anyways, OPVs are here and are probably here to stay. A conventional aircraft is now a multi-purpose aircraft. It can be used with a pilot on board or with a pilot tucked away safely some place else. The military has more options, and fewer lives are risked. At least fewer lives of the people who have this technology. More lives are risked by people who don’t have this technology. And that leads to another ethical question.

by Dwayne Phillips

An Apple prototype is found in a bar. A stream of events ensue where no one seems to do the right thing. That is too bad.

This story won’t seem to die. A basic timeline:

• Person #1 carries an Apple iPhone prototype out of the facility
• Person #1 loses the prototype in a bar
• Person #2 finds the prototype in the bar
• Person #2 sells the prototype to a Tech Blog
• The Tech Blog disassembles the prototype and blogs all about it
• The Police search the Tech Blog for evidence of a crime

I guess a day in court will come next. I think Person #1 was fired from Apple, but I’m not sure about that one.

I see there are places where everyone involved could have done the right thing, but chose to do something else.

Person #1: I think he made a small mistake – he misplaced his phone. I have misplaced things in my life. That isn’t a crime.

Person #2: He could have tried to find Person #1 and said, “I found your phone. How can I return it to you?” That doesn’t seem to be so hard as I have seen lots of people do this. A little greed entered the picture, and here we go.

Tech Blog: Someone comes to them with an Apple prototype for sale. Okay, they buy it. Then what? How about calling Apple and saying, “We have an iPhone prototype. We think one of your employees misplaced it. We’ve had a good relationship in the past, let’s continue that relationship. We want to return your prototype. How can we do that?” The other option: Don’t buy it. Tell the Person #2 that he should return the prototype to its rightful owner – Apple. Who knows, Apple may give Person #2 a reward. But no, a little greed enters the picture. Tech Blog has an exclusive story on the next iPhone.

Apple: Ooops, misplaced prototype, embarrassment, and so on. Admit it. Don’t fire anyone. Don’t call the Police. Consider all the publicity you received. Consider all the bad publicity you will receive if you call the lawyers and the Police.

Apple’s phone competitors: Apple had some misfortune. Call Apple and commiserate. Don’t “take advantage” of their misfortune.

Perhaps I am too naive for all this. The temptation to gain money and a competitive advantage is great. The desire to be forgiving and do the right thing – well, sometimes that is not so great.

by Dwayne Phillips

I turn a book manuscript into a paperback book with little fuss and no setup fee.

A few years ago I published a book with iUniverse. I enjoyed that experience with in self publishing or publish on demand. The package with iUniverse cost me $200, and I sold enough books to cover that expense. The book was one done for family and friends, so it all worked well.

I recently complete a manuscript of a book on systems engineering. I have put that online for free download as a PDF file. I wanted to have that book in the standard, paperback book form. The 6″x9″ paperback book is just plain handy at times.

For the past six months I have looked at various publish-on-demand sites. I stumbled on FastPencil.com. There are two things I love about FastPencil:

1. no setup fee
2. quick publish an existing PDF book

All I had to do was

• reformat my manuscript to 6″x9″ paper
• convert that to a PDF
• create a FastPencil account
• upload my 6″x9″ PDF
• create a front cover and a back cover
• click the right buttons online

And so now I can buy paperback book copies of my manuscript for $8 in low quantities (including shipping costs). Again, I love that I didn’t have to pay several hundred dollars for setup and that FastPencil would accept a PDF book. A number of publish-on-demand houses limit the number of figures and things like that – no such limits with FastPencil.

Now I have to wait until the ten copies I bought arrive at the house. I’ll report on the quality of the binding, paper, and such at that time.

by Dwayne Phillips

Several weeks into the iPad has me still searching for that one great application.

Now I’ve had the iPad for several weeks. Some observations:

3G or not to be – My model doesn’t have 3G, just WiFi. This is fine for what I want to do, but I recommend a model with 3G. It seems that every time I want to demonstrate something to someone, I have no Internet access.

Weather – The Weather Channel app is excellent.

Battery Life – ten hours of battery life is also excellent. I think I recharge the battery once a week or so.

eBook Reader – the iPad is excellent for reading. It is much better than the iPhone. I read books everyday on the iPad.

Input – I really want the camera connection kit. When can I buy one?

Input – I type with only two fingers. Maybe I should spend the $70 for an external keyboard. Surely someone besides Apple will start selling a cheaper Bluetooth keyboard.

The Great Application – I am still looking for this one. I believe that, in time, one will come along. My wish list:

• handwriting recognition
• a little stylus
• drawing software
• image processing (like Photoshop or, even better, GIMP)
• WiMax – I know, that is 4G, but hey, this is a “wish” list

by Dwayne Phillips

Universities report that cheating is prevalent in computer science classes. A closer look shows me that the universities are cheating the students by teaching them bad work habits.

Computer science enrollment is high this year in universities. Cheating in universities is also on the rise. Universities are proclaiming that the cheating is coming from introductory computer programming classes. Whoa!

Let’s step back and look at all this computer science cheating. Universities have policies about programming projects. The policies state that the student programmers are not to talk to other students and not to look at online resources. The universities catch the cheaters using automated tools that compare the programs among students and also compare the student’s program to source code on the Internet.

So let’s see, cheating is:

1. working with other students
2. finding answers online

I guess I am backwards. Those are two things that I want new computer science students to know how to do. I want new employees who have experience working with other people on problems. I want new employees who can find answers online instead of re-inventing them.

I don’t understand what universities are trying to teach and why they call these good qualities “cheating.” Sure, we want the students to “do their own work” so we can grade them accordingly. Let me try to say it this way:

Doing your own work all by yourself is not a good quality on the job.

What I want are people who can

1. work well with others
2. find answers to tough questions

But how does a university assign grades to students if they don’t do their own work? Two answers:

1. I don’t know.
2. I don’t care.

What I care about are new employees who can work in the real world. I grade on work delivered, not methods. I don’t tolerate stealing, lying, fraud, waste, and abuse. If a person delivers product from a collaboration, they say they delivered from a collaboration. That is ethical. If a person delivers product by finding answers online, they say they delivered by finding answers online. That too is ethical.

Pretending that a student is all by himself in the world is just that – a pretense. I have no interest in pretenses. And, by the way, I have little interest in adults labeling smart kids as “cheaters” when the kids use available resources and admit that is what they did.

by Dwayne Phillips

A recent peek into the world of grad students in engineering and related fields reveals a group of people with a strong desire to work for the benefit of others.

I have been working with grad students on writing. This took many months to arrange, but for the past couple of weeks I have spent a few evenings each week working with grad students in engineering, computer science, and information technology. They are writing their dissertations and dissertation proposals. Most of these grad students are not native English speakers. They do speak English and can write in English. Nevertheless, they struggle with writing about complex technical topics. The native English speakers in these majors also struggle with writing on complex topics. Writing, it seems, is not a highly sought skill in the sciences.

Aside from the consistent woes of writing, one thing impressed me from these tutoring sessions:

These are good people.

I realized this while explaining one of the bad habits that engineers and their cousin scientists have in writing. You see, we are explaining complex topics. We want the reader to understand the topic clearly, so we explain it, then we explain it just a bit more. The extra explanations tend to clutter the writing with too many words, too many phrases, too many sentences, and too many whatever comes next.

All these sleep-inducing extra words stem from a desire to be helpful.

Aha, that was it. A desire to be helpful. I opened my eyes a bit wider and took note of the topics these grad students were studying. They included:

• Help people use the Internet
• Help people maintain their privacy
• Help people survive emergencies

Each of these students could take their dissertation ideas to venture capitalists and probably receive funding. The ideas are good enough to become money-making products. Instead, they are working on these ideas to publish them to the world. These students are good people who are trying to help others. I am glad I met them. I cheer them along as best I can knowing that they have the good of others in their hearts.

That’s not bad for a bunch of emotionless nerds – a stereotypical view of these students that once examined is about as false as a view can be.

by Dwayne Phillips

The title of this post is a telephone number – the way we used to say telephone numbers. Much has changed in telephones, and much of the change is for the better. Still, we have lost a lot of our culture about telephones.

The title of this post is a phone number. When I was a little boy, that was our phone number. For half a dozen decades telephone numbers in the U.S. were made easier to remember by saying a word at the beginning. Taylor meant TAylor with the T A being the numbers 8 2. Hence, TAylor 3 3983 was 823-3983. All that has gone away.

We used to talk a lot about making long distance phone calls. I don’t know if my 21-year-old son knows what a long distance call is. He just flips open his cell phone and dials. He doesn’t dial a “1” in front of the number regardless of where in the U.S. he is calling. All the calls are covered by his phone plan. Long distance? All that has gone away.

I used to buy phone calling cards. I would put minutes on them and use them when calling my wife from motels. I think you can still buy phone calling cards. They are useful from some motels and some pay phones. Almost all that has gone away.

Pay phones? I remember all too well calling people from pay phones. I always had enough change in my pocket to do so. In Louisiana, where I went to high school in the 1970s, you could make a pay phone call for 5 cents. That was at a time when pay phone calls cost 25 cents in most places. All that has gone away.

We used to dial phone numbers. There was a round thing on the face of the phone that we would push around in a circle and wait for it to return to the home position. Sometimes I hear someone use the phrase “dial this number.” All that has gone away.

It isn’t a big headline to declare that telecommunications in America has changed. I guess everyone knows that. What is a small headline is that a large part of American culture has gone away. So the next time you are watching an old movie with some young people, point at those things that have gone away. Tell the young people how we used to live. I think things are better today, but it is helpful to recall all those things that have gone away.

by Dwayne Phillips

I have seen encouragement change the lives of people. Here I relate one episode of such.

This post is a bit different from the rest. Well, that is if you can find a pattern in the rest of my posts. I’ve read a lot of blogging experts that say you should find a narrow niche and write about that most of the time. I guess I don’t have a narrow niche or haven’t found it yet.

Let’s start with a statement that has a few problems, but it is just a start:

Encouragement can change a person’s life – and the lives of other people as well.

Here is why I write the above. A relative of mine – a grown man, actually in his middle age – was recently “tossed out” by close family members who were housing him. The background is too lengthy to write at this time.

Some distant relatives took him in – for three months. They fed him, housed him, helped him do his laundry, got him to stop drinking, got him to stop smoking, had him exercise (mild at first) every day. At the end of the three months, he returned to him close family.

About the second day back with his close family, a family memory confronted him with curt words. My encouraged relative did not reply in that manner. Instead, he spoke about living as gentle human beings. The situation in that home changed. Encouragement spread.

Items involved in encouragement:

Kind words – For three months, people spoke kindly to my relative.

Sleep – My relative slept at least eight hours a night. He had not done so in many years.

Food – My relative ate three meals a day at the same three times each day. Again, he had not done so in years.

Peace – People did not argue or exchange angry words or glances.

Exercise – My relative walked outdoors each day. He eventually was walking two hours outdoor every day.

Common enemy – A mention this item cautiously. Everyone had a common enemy, something they could all agree to avoid. The common enemy was being negative.

Resources: This wasn’t free. The distant relatives who encouraged my discouraged relative needed some resources. They included:

Spare bedroom – My relative needed a place to sleep.

Spare food – Three meals a day.

Trust – They had to trust my discouraged relative. After all, he had the run of their home.

My relative’s life has changed – for now at least as we each live one day at a time. The lives of those around him have been affected as well. This is the power of encouragement. I believe that we all possess the power of encouragement. The funny thing about encouragement, the more we give away the more we seem to have.

by Dwayne Phillips

A few observations from a few more days with the iPad. You touch the iPad with your hands, even with dirty hands. Handwriting recognition software is one of the apps that could change everything.

A few more impressions after a few more days with the iPad.

The number 1 question:

What can that thing do?

I don’t recall the last time anyone asked me that question about any other computer I was using. This means something, I am not sure what, but it means something.

Something my wife told me while we were in the kitchen with the iPad:

I can’t touch it, I have flour on my hands.

I didn’t start a discussion of how it is made of glass and aluminum. In hindsight, I should have as all the cooking utensils she was using are made of glass and aluminum and we have no trouble cleaning those. It seems that a “computer” is something that you only touch when your hands are clean. The iPad is touchable with dirty hands. Hmmm, that may mean something. I wonder if Apple or anyone else has done testing in harsh environments (dust, dirt, rain, mud, humidity). The buttons, connectors, and speaker openings don’t appear to be weather sealed, but …

And then there is software.

Computers always come back to software as software has been the defining characteristic of computers since the 1960s. The early Apple II computer “made it” in the marketplace by the creation of the VisiCalc spreadsheet. The iPhone app store made the iPhone work. We are waiting for the good apps for the iPad.

What we need is handwriting software. I have yet to find handwriting recognition software for the iPad. If I am missing something here, please let me know. My daughter-in-law was looking at the iPad Sunday. She is in her early 20s, and the first question she asked was:

Can I write on this with my finger?

The next question was:

Does it have a stylus?

Hmmm, one of the more interesting things I read about the iPad this week was this piece by Tim Bray. He discussed the handwriting on the glass and ended with this comment:

OK, I’ll make a prediction. The most important way that the tablet is different from the computer is that it’s optimized for analog, not digital, input. Whatever the applications are that are best driven in an analog way, those are the ones that will drive the tablet ecosystem.

That makes sense. If a Doctor can sign a chart, if a Fireman can initial a page, if a coach can draw a play, and on and on all with dirty fingers in the rain and muck and sweat and all those other things that keep all those other computers out of sight…then maybe these pads and tablets and slates can stop being computers and start being common appliances, like the glass and aluminum utensils my wife uses in the kitchen.