Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

Sometimes the system we really use is not the system we tell people we use.

“This system won’t work,” said the person whose job it was to analyze a system.

But, the system works, i.e., the group of persons using the system that won’t work seem to get along just fine. In fact, they are succeeding at whatever it is they are attempting.

Hmm, but the system won’t work. Well, the system that is described in the system description won’t work. Further analysis shows that there is a person or two—let’s call them the heroes—in the room who do whatever it is they do. And “the system” works.

The heroes aren’t using the system that won’t work. If they did, the place would collapse. The heroes aren’t using the system that everyone says they are using. The heroes are using a different, hidden, or private system that does work.

Perhaps we should attempt to describe the system actually being used. Perhaps there are folks who don’t want to describe that for fear of something that should be feared.

If people are succeeding, they are using a system that works. It doesn’t matter what they say they are using. We are an odd lot.

by Dwayne Phillips

It is wonderful to see a small child see something wonderful.

I sit in Starbucks typing these words on a Saturday morning. Now and then someone enters with a small child—a child small enough that they have to stand on their toes and stretch their neck to see what is in the display area.

The small children see some things that are wonderful. I cannot describe the expression of wonder in a small child. I only know that it is wonderful to witness. The child has just seen the greatest thing in the world. Perhaps that thing is great, perhaps it is disappointing. Regardless, the child sees it as wonderful.

Perhaps the thing is not that wonderful. Perhaps what is wonderful is the person who has brought the child to this place of wonder. The experience, the morning, that is what is wonderful. It is a wonderful day brought about by a thoughtful, loving, caring person. That is also wonderful to see. Perhaps we have a chance to be okay.

by Dwayne Phillips

Sometimes it is worth the effort to make the output “look good.” Sometimes this pretty printing is a waste and only aggravates those involved.

This past week at work I spent hours and hours pretty printing. We had “done the work” and were trying to make a printout of the work for others. Of course, if others couldn’t read the printout, it was worthless. Let’s just adjust this and that a little bit and it will all be okay. Right?

Hours and hours spent. The result was a prettier printout. Was it worth it? Well, I am sure it was worth it to someone. To me? I am still debating with myself as all that effort to make things 1.23% better was aggravating. I would rather not do it. I mean, my work product was good and its worth was obvious to anyone who cared to strain their neck to see it and…

Sigh. No, the pretty printing was worth the effort. I just didn’t want to do it. Surely we had someone around who could do that for me? Nope. It was my job. I know it was my job. I still didn’t like it. Sometimes that is what you do, you pretty print and you move on to the next task.

by Dwayne Phillips

Sometimes I find projects that are over organized. There is a good long-term reason for such. It still is a pain for the rest of us.

I recently started working on a project that was over organized. The computer files were arranged by this criteria and that criteria and the other criteria. Related information was scattered in this area and that area and separated as much as possible.

The project wasn’t that big and complicated. It didn’t need all that organization in all those folder chains and such. What a headache to figure out what was what and where and when and how and gosh golly I had a headache.

There was, however, a good reason for all this. The project manager, the person who over organized the project, wanted to impress senior managers with the ability to organize projects that were much bigger. Therefore, the project manager organized this little project the same way a project manager would organize a project that was much bigger.

Okay, I understood the reasoning. Still, I was stuck trying to figure out all this stuff. It all made sense to some folks, but not to me.

Sometimes we have good reason to do things the way we do them. We should also understand that these good reasons are not readily apparent to some other people. They will look at us like we just put mustard on their vanilla ice cream cone. And, for them, we have just put mustard on their vanilla ice cream cone.

What to do? Put up a great big neon sign that states what we are doing and why. Document everything so that those who want simpler organization for simpler projects can navigate the over organization of the simpler projects.

We can do better.

by Dwayne Phillips

When building systems, reduce the amount of intricate typing required by users. Sometimes we forget this and require too much hand jamming.

I ran across the phrase “hand jamming” recently at work. I hadn’t heard that in years. I was happy to hear that some people still knew it and knew what it meant. The phrase is akin to “fat finger.”

Hand jamming means I have to jam data into a computer with my hands.

Fat fingering means my fingers move over to the key adjacent to the one I wish to touch and I press the wrong button.

These silly phrases relate to clerical errors. If users are required to put their hands on the keyboard and type things over and again, well, those fingers hit the wrong keys and those eyeballs don’t see the typographical errors.

Building a system? Do what you can to reduce the amount of “see this here and type it exactly right there.” That hand jamming leads to fat fingering and those errors will catch up with us. Let’s do better.

by Dwayne Phillips

An old adage, one that I have experienced to be true, is that a person will tell another person the solution to all their problems in the first five minutes of the first conversation.

Many years ago, an experienced consultant told me, “The client will tell the consultant the solution to all their problems, i.e., the reason they hired a consultant, in the first five minutes of the first conversation. Pay close attention to the first five minutes of the first conversation. It will make you appear to be a genius.”

That was too simple. That, however, has proven to be true almost all the time I meet a new person in a new job with new problems. They tell me their problems and the solution to their problems in the first five minutes of the first conversation.

I guess there is some significant and deep psychological reason behind all this. There must be as this is significant, but I don’t know what it is.

What I do know is to pay close attention to the first five minutes of the first conversation. This little blog post is pretty repetitive with this “first five minutes of the first conversation” thing, but I guess that’s the message.

It works. Please try it.

by Dwayne Phillips

Sometimes we just don’t understand when someone else doesn’t understand.

I was recently attending a meeting online. This was one of those ZoomerTeams things where the PowerPoint was on the screen and the presenter was talking in a room with one of those microphones on the conference table.

I couldn’t understand what the presenter was saying. Once an hour I would say something like, “Excuse me, I don’t understand what the presenter is saying.”

Speechless confusion followed. “What? How can you possibly not understand what we are saying?”

I proceeded to explain about microphones and facing the microphone instead of facing into the computer screen and speaking clearly instead of with a hand on the jaw and all sorts of basic presentation skills and the like.

“Can you understand us now?”

“Yes, I can because you are now facing the microphone and trying to speak in an understandable manner.”

Then the meeting would resume and the speaker would speak into the computer screen while leaning their jaw on their hand and speaking quickly with hems and haws and such. I couldn’t understand. I would say that once an hour.

I gave up. Just my problem. I guess I need to improve myself.

Or maybe we could all do a little better at these things.

by Dwayne Phillips

I must have missed something in my life as the title of this post was very confusing the first time I heard it.

I was being interviewed for a job. This was on the telephone. There were several people on the other end of the line. The principal interviewer asked me something like, “What are cases where you had a hard right and an easy wrong?”

I asked for several explanations to the question. I just didn’t understand what seemed to be a perplexing situation for the interviewer. What do you do when it is easy to lie and difficult to tell the truth?

I didn’t understand this concept of “difficult to tell the truth.” We aren’t little kids hiding chewing gum under our tongue when the teacher asks about it. We are adults in working situations. We tell the truth and work with it. That is what adults do, huh?

Mark Twain, or someone else famous, said something like, “If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.”

That sort of means that the “truth” is the truth and everyone knows the truth so others will remember the truth as well as I remember the truth or something like that.

The estimate was $10, the actual cost was $13. I wish that weren’t the case, but that is the truth. We work with it.

“But if you admit to a cost overrun, you will be the subject of scorn.” Well, maybe so, but the cost overrun is the truth and eventually everyone will know the truth.

Well, if we are clever, we can hide the truth until the truth doesn’t matter and we can get away with a lie. Well, maybe so, but the truth that we are lying and therefore are liars will come to light.

This begins to be so complicated that I get a headache. Right is hard if we make it so. Wrong is wrong by definition. Perhaps I am a simpleton.

by Dwayne Phillips

Writing about technology on the job breaks just about every rule taught in creative writing classes. That is because you are writing to inform, not entertain.

Sometimes I encourage others at work who are writing about technical topics. Their job is to inform. I encourage them not to entertain.

• Use the same words over and over again all the time.
• Tell the punch line at the start.
• Be logical, not emotional.
• And so on.

All these encouragements are counter to what is taught in creative writing classes. That is because technical documents are not mystery novels. We don’t drop little clues and hints here and there hidden in cleverly woven webs. We state things right up front in plain language.

We try to make it difficult for the reader to misunderstand. We try to avoid the great “Aha!” moment at the last word in the book.

Boring. Boring? Yes. That is the point. Clarity and brevity. Obvious. Not entertaining.

by Dwayne Phillips

Despite the celebrity appearances of celebrities, the vase majority of folks just do their jobs (for better or worse).

As I write, the months-long antitrust trial of Google may draw to a close. As this article reports, the vast majority of Google employees aren’t giving that thing the slightest bit of attention. They are doing their jobs (for better or worse).

I worked for a government agency for 28 years. I have worked over ten years supporting several other government agencies. Now and then, the media reports BIG HEADLINES about these agencies and their heads and someone who is making note of all these.

When I first started working in government, I would notice these headlines and ask people at work how we would all react. People shrugged, waved their hand dismissively, and continued their work. They could not care any less about the headlines.

Most government agencies, most big companies, et al are headed by celebrities. Most media outlets are run by celebrities. Most of these celebrities love to be on TV and be seen everywhere else we see celebrities in the 21st century.

In the eyes of the celebrities, what the celebrities do and say is all important. In the eyes of 98.6% of the folks who work, the celebrities aren’t worth a breath, a moment, an ounce of consideration.

Do your job. Try to make good things happen. Ignore those whose life goal is to be important.

Perhaps that is a good thing. Perhaps not. Perhaps the Google antitrust trial is key to the future of big tech, privacy, competition, free enterprise, the American way, justice, etc. Perhaps not. Perhaps it is just a bunch of celebrities at Google and the Department of Justice creating a space in the media so they can be celebrities. Perhaps not.