Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

Being a grandfather has taught me a few things about managing work. How can a baby teach an adult so much in so little time?

I am a grandfather; I have been one for 6 1/2 wonderful months. I see my grandson on average every three to seven days (funny how I can be so engineering-analytical about something like this). This frequency gives me a good perspective on his growth and changes. If I saw him every day, I might not notice the changes. If I saw him once a month, well that just wouldn’t be good. Time gives me a good perspective, and so does my experience as I had three sons of my own.

I think that I use my perspective and experience well. I give my son and his wife (the most wonderful daughter-in-law in the world) all the advice they request – and no more.

I also manage projects and systems from time to time. I see the work of people on a project team on average every two to five days. This frequency gives me a good perspective on the growth in the work being accomplished. If I examined the work of team members every day, I might not notice the changes in their work. If I saw their progress once a month, well that just wouldn’t be good. Time gives me a good perspective, and so does my experience working on many projects through the years.

I think that I use my perspective and experience well. I, er, I give the team advice. How often? Well, if you are a manager, try these questions:

What do you do?

How often do you examine the work of the people on your team?

Do you give all the advice you have?

Do you only give the advice requested?

Do you give all the advice requested?

Do you hold back some knowledge so the team learns to work it out on their own?

Do you give all the advice you decide they need?

Are the some other variations on giving advice?

Is this a stupid comparison?

I have managed some important projects that involved hundreds of millions of dollars and the lives and livelihoods of dozens of people. I have never managed a project that was as important to me as my grandson.

Perhaps I am doing this thing right.

Perhaps I didn’t do so well on all those project managing jobs.

Several things that I do realize on this grandparent endeavor. My son is very important to me. My daughter-in-law is very important to me. My grandson is very important to me. I care a lot about how well on do on this one.

I am approaching other projects in a different manner now than I did in the past.

by Dwayne Phillips

Government exists to spend money. The more money spent, the better it is for those inside government and also for their partners in industry. This is a disappointing system. There are solutions, but don’t look for them to be implemented anytime soon.

I worked over 25 years in government and a few months now for a company that exists on government contracts. I have learned something here (I admit, I am a slow learner on some things):

Government exists to spend more money

and

the individual persons involved benefit more from spending more money.

Let’s look at this at a low level, where people actually accomplish work. 

I think of systems that the government can use to accomplish its mission (serve taxpayers). I tend to think of systems that use available technology and technology (software) that is low- or no-cost. The stuff is out there ready for use. All that is needed is a little imagination to understand how to apply this inexpensive technology to the government’s mission.

That is alright, but not good for the company where I work. I can propose such low-cost systems to the government customer, but the company doesn’t make a lot of money taking inexpensive technology and applying it to government. The company makes much more money by inventing technology and applying it to government. Hence, this company, and all the other companies out there working for the government, is more profitable if it suggests technology to invent instead of inexpensive, existing technology.

Now this isn’t all true. A company that suggests low-cost and high-value solutions to the government is likely to have more business in the future and generate more profits. That, however, is a long-term view, and sometimes companies don’t have a long-term view.

Let’s move back to the view inside the government (I know this one all too well). Surely, the government manager wants to have a company come with a low-cost, high-value suggestion. Wrong.

Government managers are rewarded for managing large projects. Large projects involve lots of people inventing things. Hence, large projects cost more money. When a government manager successfully manages high-cost projects, that manager is recognized. No high-dollar projects, no recognition.

Sorry, government managers are not recognized for managing low-cost, high-value projects. It is too much work for the manager of the government manager to understand that some low-cost projects deliver high value to the taxpayer. It is much easier to read the bottom line – the $$$ spent than to analyze the actual benefit of a project.

So here we are. The company makes more profit by suggesting high-cost projects; the government manager receives recognition by managing high-cost projects. 

High cost is good news for everyone – except the taxpayer

Well, the taxpayer is far away in both space and time. I realize that the government manager and the company manager both pay taxes and both have an interest in this value-for-the-taxpayer concept. Neither, however, pays a majority of their income in taxes. The more money they make personally, the more money they take home. 

Do I have any solutions? Oh sure, but they all involve knowledge and diligence on the part of government managers. I am disappointed to report that both of those attributes are in short supply.

by Dwayne Phillips

I learned something big and useful this week – really useful. After kicking myself for not knowing it already, I grew some humility. Learning comes from unexpected people, times, and places. I resolve to use what energy I have to pay attention for the next thing coming my way.

I learned something this week – something big:

You can type just about anything in the URL field of a browser and go somewhere meaningful

For example,

who was the star of bewitched

took me to a Google search page with the first site displayed being “Bewitched and the Elizabeth Montgomery Web Site.” (“Bewitched” was a 1960s television show in the U.S.)

Another example,

2 + 3 =

took me to a Google calculator page with the answer.There are too many examples to give.

This floored me. I use browsers all day seven days a week and I didn’t know you could do this. It is heart breaking to realize how much time I have wasted by not knowing this. I could have been… And then I could have used the extra time to… And then there is all that other stuff… I have been using this new knowledge all the time since learning it.

I felt so stupid for not knowing this! Deep breath, sigh, wait a moment.

Step one: use this new knowledge to do a better job and save time.

Step two: forgive myself for not knowing it, yet. At least I learned, and at my age learning new things is quite an accomplishment.

Step three: commence the rest of my life.

I learned a big, useful learning from an unexpected source. I don’t even remember what blog I was reading when I learned this. The lesson sticks with me more than the source.

Something else I (re)learned – humility. There is much I don’t know, and not just the latest techno-fad. Basic, fundamental, use-every-five-minutes-of-the-day techniques and tools. Swallow hard here. I will pay attention and I will try to pay attention to everyone I meet. I do not know the source of the next big learning. I don’t know the place, the time, or the person where I will find it.

I will also continue to forgive myself for being human. I have a finite amount of energy. Things will go past me, things that would be good to learn. I won’t catch everything, but that is alright.

Just stay humble, keep noticing, continue to learn, and enjoy each day.

by Dwayne Phillips

There are many methods to use to reach a conclusion. Since they all involve fallible people like me, most of the methods are fallible. Expect requests for further study. Anticipate them and ask others to study alongside you from the beginning.

Arriving at a conclusion is a primary task of an engineer, scientist, adviser, consultant, and many other people. My task is to have a summary of the situation and state that summary to someone who has an interest in the situation.

There are many ways that I can reach a conclusion. Here are a few.

[1] I start with a blank sheet of paper in front of me. I observe as much as I can while writing as much as I can on the paper. I study my observations. I reach a conclusion

Ah, the perfect way to do it. But there are others. For example,

[2] I have a conclusion in mind – a really strong conclusion in mind. I observe what I can. I remember every observation that reinforces my conclusion. My original conclusion is correct.

Maybe [2] isn’t the most honest method of reaching a conclusion, but I have used it many times and I have see other people use it a hundred times more than me.

Folly? Perhaps not. Consider this variations of method [2].

[2a] While a senior in college (many years ago), a professor led the class through a derivation of a circuit that would give a desired result. The professor did not begin with the solution, he honestly worked through the steps to reach a circuit design. We built the circuit per the design. It flopped miserably. We went back through the derivation and found terrible mistakes. None of us, however, saw any of the mistakes the first time. How could all of us have followed this mistaken path?

Another story:

[3] Ten years ago at work, a sister organization discovers a latent defect in a satellite (already in orbit). They are about to launch a second satellite and realize that the same defect is in part, but not all, of the second satellite. They devise a strategy to fix the defect, test a little, and launch. They explain their strategy to a review board.

Does [3] sound familiar? It should as it is another variation of [2] – the conclusion looking only for evidence that supports it. While [3] was in progress, several of us questioned its validity. We attempted to convince the review board that [3] was just like [2] and [2a]. We were scolded for not being “team players.” (see footnote)

Again, there are many ways we can reach a conclusion. Some are more valid than others. When I am the person reaching a conclusion it is difficult for me to understand whether I used method [1] or method [2]. I guess that is because I am spending as much energy as possible on the problem.

Expect people to want to analyze your conclusion. Expect people to request the time to study the situation from start to finish for themselves. Expect them to reach a different conclusion, and then the two of you have to start from scratch and work through the situation together.

Here is a resource-saving recommendation:

Don’t work to find a conclusion by myself. Ask other people to find the conclusion with me.

More eyes and brains usually do a better job.

Footnote: Story [3] has a happy ending. The second satellite launched and worked as intended. Perhaps our sister organization was lucky.

by Dwayne Phillips

I did a lot of research on the Internet this week at work. I can’t mention the topics I researched, but I was researching for a good four days. It isn’t surprising to reveal that the information available on the net is astounding.

Google is a great tool. The same is true for SourceForge and the Free Software Foundation.
I grew weary of all this searching. By today – Friday – I couldn’t look at a another little search field on a web site. All I wanted to do was go home and take a nap. And then cut the grass.

Please understand that all week long while I was searching on the net, it was raining here in the Washington D.C. area. It never really rained hard, but more of an off-and-on drizzle, mist, and fog. Even when it wasn’t raining, it was cloudy and the grass wouldn’t dry. It has been sunny all day today. The grass is perhaps dry enough to mow this evening. We have rain in the forecast tonight and tomorrow morning. If that comes true, conditions will not be right for mowing again until Monday.

There are outdoor chores to do, and this evening may be the only time to do them.

I like research. I love to learn and, believe me, I have learned a lot this week. It is time, however, to do something else.

by Dwayne Phillips

Video on personal computers is messy. Some format play on some operating systems if you download the right video players. It should be simpler.

I have been playing with video the past couple of weeks. It has not been fun, but it has been educational.

I needed to do a demonstration of some internet technologies. One of the few things I remember from my major professor in graduate school is,

Never depend on a live demonstration.

I have heeded that advice for 20 years and it has been good advice many times. Hence, I decided to make videos of the internet demonstrations. That way I could show the “demos” without having an internet connection – yes, some of us work in physical locations where there are no internet connections.

I made the first set of videos on my iMac at home. I used iShowU to capture the videos and an upgrade of QuickTime to “edit” the captures and save them as mp4 files. All was well as long as I could show the video on a machine that I controlled, i.e. a machine that I could download the necessary video players to. I used QuickTime for MS Windows. Okay.

Then somone told me they wanted me to bring my videos into their office building on a CD. I knew their environment – not connected to the Internet and not up to date.

The next few frustrating days had me doing experiments with video capture in OS X, video capture in MS Windows XP, and attempted video playback on XP (of varying ages) and Vista. Aaargh. Some videos worked here, but not there, there but not here, and no where. I think of have found several low-common denominators. I have yet to find the lowest-common denominator that will work everywhere. Aargh.

I hate to summarize this excruciating exercise with a simple statement, but I will:

Things just work on an Apple computer.

There, now readers can contribute to the Mac vs PC war. I wish I had a better summary containing technical tidbits, but I don’t.

by Dwayne Phillips

There are many forces in our culture that helps create workaholic people. Twitter joins the group.

Twitter is cute, funny, silly, a waste of time, and many other things depending on who is telling you this or what you are doing at the time. Consider this one:

Twitter is yet another means of creating workaholics.

Ever hear that one? I haven’t. It hit me a couple of days ago as I was staring at Twitter waiting for it to update (seems to be much slower since that woman whose name starts with “O” joined a week or so ago).

Twitter’s subtitle is:

What are you doing?

You have to be “doing” something to report it on Twitter. Do this, do that, do something, do…do…do

How about a site where you report how you are feeling? How about a site where you report how you are being?

The emphasis on “doing” often turns into “working.” If you aren’t doing or working all the time, then … well you are less of a person.

Please remember that resting is doing something. Playing with your grandson is doing something really important. Watching you kid run around in the park is doing something really important.

Put down the tweet machine (a.k.a. cellphone) and be a loving, caring person. That is enough.

by Dwayne Phillips

Blogs can be repetitious. Don’t bloggers tire of writing the same thing? No, they don’t. Each blogger is writing what she writes for the first time. I find much good in that.

A reporter asks a clergyman, “What are you going to say to that family whose house just burned to the ground?”

Clergyman replies, “Nothing I haven’t said before; nothing they haven’t heard before.”

This is the state of blogs. Untold thousands or millions of people tapping their thoughts on their keyboards while the little black letters appear on the window pane from Blogger or WordPress. The ratio of writers to readers is maybe a million to one.

What’s the purpose? After all, all those writers are, like the clergyman, writing nothing the readers haven’t heard before.

The purpose is the first half of the clegyman’s statement. The bloggers are writing something that they haven’t said before. It is the writers’ first time to discuss the death of newspapers, the silliness of meetings, the next computer from Apple, and any host of other topics that appear often in blogs.

Is it all a waste? I think not. The blogger is writing, honing a craft, improving a little with each tap of the keyboard. I think that people improving their ability to write is a good thing for the person and for the person’s acquaintances. The ability to write well is a good thing. The ability to write better next year than this year is a better thing.

Get an account on Blogger or WordPress. Write about what you think Apple should do next; speculate about the health of Steve Jobs, and either mourn or applaud the demise of the big newspapers. Perhaps you will be the only person to read what you write, but that is alright, too. You will have exercised the mind and stirred your emotions. Good things as well.

by Dwayne Phillips

Has the Internet killed the newspaper? It has helped, but the microprocessor is more important.

What else contributed to the death of the newspaper. How about the good old microprocessor? Tremendous power in a small, inexpensive package.

Twenty-five years ago, I could read the news online via CompuServe. At the time I rented a room in a lady’s home. She rented five bedrooms (a long story). I suggested that she get a computer and we all read the news online.

“Sure, couldn’t you see us all huddled around a big computer to read the newspaper?”

She was right. It wouldn’t work.

Fast-forward to today. My brother, his wife, and two college-student kids take my mother on a vacation to Branson, Missouri. I was talking to her on the phone and wanted to email her some information. Did my brother or sister-in-law bring a computer?

“Sure, they all did. There are four computers sitting on the table.”

That was it. Four people, four portable computers, WiFi, who needs a newspaper? How in the world can a middle-class family from a small town in Mississippi afford four portable computers? The microprocessor.

Yes, the Internet is killing the newspaper, but the Internet doesn’t matter if a computer for almost every adult isn’t affordable. It is. The newspaper is toast.

by Dwayne Phillips

Managers are everywhere. The vast majority of them perform their jobs poorly. Still, we work for these bad managers. Why?

I am reading a manuscript written by Johanna Rothman on managing project portfolios. I expect this to be a fine book when published. It is for people who have more work than they can accomplish with their resources (sounds like a big audience). Johanna describes methods for organizing the work so that you put your resources on the most important tasks and let the others go (say “NO”).

Good managers do the types of things that Johanna describes. Good managers think ahead, consider things bigger than their own pet project, and do something to make everyone’s life better.

I haven’t worked for many good managers. I would call only one in ten of the managers I worked for to be “good managers.” I suppose that leaves the rest to be bad managers or maybe mediocre managers.

Then again, I worked 28 years in government. “The government” is supposed to be managed poorly, and we hold to those expectations. There are many reasons why the government is dominated by bad managers, but that still begs the question:

Why work for bad managers?

I once worked around a group of men who were assigned to a different office – the Office of Communications or “Commo” as they liked to call themselves. These men often spoke of how Commo was managed poorly. They actually took great pride in that Commo probably had the worst managers in the government. They saw it as a challenge to be able to accomplish anything of value given they were managed so badly. As one of them told me, “anyone can accomplish something with good managers. It takes a special breed to do something with bad managers.”

One prime example of bad management in government and in Commo in particular is the idea of “multitasking.” It still echoes in my ears, “If you can only do one thing at a time, you shouldn’t be working here.”

This came from a Commo veteran while we were trying to fix a broken system. He wanted to run tests with three or four variables in each test. I was trying to convince him that such tests wouldn’t tell us anything. We needed to keep to one variable at a time. I wasn’t able to convince him, and our testing took 12 hours to complete instead of one.

I have lost track of the books, articles, and studies I have read that show that multitasking is a bad practice. People spend more energy shifting from task to task than they do working any one task. There are actually mathematical models to prove the folly of shifting among more than two or three tasks. Still, bad managers won’t listen. They cling to the fantasy that all their employees should be able to add one more task to their workload at any given time (at the whim of the manager).

So still,

Why work for bad managers?

I suppose there are as many answers as there are people. Some answers are:

• I need the money
• This was the only job available
• All managers are stupid
• You think this guy is bad, you should have seen…
• There are good managers? Where?

I think the biggest reason is that most people have never worked for a good manager. We simply don’t know what we are missing.