Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

Sometimes we do things backwards and expect everyone else to know.

Here in the year of the virus, I sit outside a nationally recognized chain of coffee shops (whose name begins with an “S”) viewing the Internet and occasionally writing blog posts….(is that a long-enough opening sentence?)…

But anyways, in the year of the virus, customers (the paying type) must enter the establishment through one door, purchase their caffeine-laden beverages, grab-and-go, and exit through another door. I am sitting outside the exit door, so I have an excellent view of this otherwise most-non-excellent arrangement.

The exit door is one of those double doors. There is a right side and a left side. Here in America, we drive on the right side of the road. We walk on the right side of the sidewalk. We traverse the right side of everything we traverse. It is sort of a social agreement. Right?

Well, as paying customers exit this S—-, they push on the right door only to find it locked. They push it a few more times in the belief that they just didn’t push it hard enough the first couple of times. They eventually push the left door to learn that it is unlocked. The right door is locked; the left door is unlocked.

I suppose there is some good historical reason why the doors are locked and unlocked in this seemingly backwards arrangement. There must be as the managers of this S— are neither stupid nor diabolical.

Here is an idea: block the right door with a chair or some other door-blocking device so that your paying customers know that they should use the left door. That way, they won’t be so troubled while exiting after paying for their caffeine-laden beverages.

I suppose there is some good historical reason why the locked door isn’t blocked. There must be as the managers of this S— are neither stupid nor diabolical.

Why do we do these things to ourselves? We change a convention without telling anyone else that we are doing things backwards. Humor? Who knows? It is obvious to me, so it must be obvious to you. Right? Perhaps not.

Anyways, life goes on in the year of the virus.

by Dwayne Phillips

I am a person working technology. That is my identity. Oh wait, maybe not. Yikes. Am I involved in management? Probably.

DevSecOps is the current buzzword among those of us who write computer programs. It is an abbreviation for combing development, security, and operations. It is all sorts of technical things that combine into a new way of doing something. There is much good in it—no kidding, there really is.

Is it technical or managerial? Well, persons with technical backgrounds are doing this. Backgrounds like computer science, computer engineering, security engineering, systems engineering, systems administration, computer operations, etc. This must be technical!

Is it technical or managerial? I am afraid it is managerial. “DevSecOps” differs from “DevOps” that differs from “agile” that differs from “waterfall” that differs from some buzzword that people used before they used “waterfall.” It is another method of organizing the work and leading the people involved in building something. DevSecOps uses some tools that we didn’t have when we did something else. Those are good tools, just like an electric circular saw is better than a hand saw in some situations.

“Let’s use this tool instead of that tool,” is a management decision—not a technical decision. Managers decide.

DevSecOps has plenty of technical tasks performed by persons with technical backgrounds. Deciding to do DevSecOps or something else, however, is a management task.

Aargh!

by Dwayne Phillips

Someone please give me a magic wand so that I won’t have to talk to those ogres.

I currently work in what some people call “data science” and others call “artificial intelligence and machine learning.” Each day I read something about the “democratization of data science” and the “democratization of artificial intelligence or machine learning or both or all or something.”

Whew. “Democratization” is actually a word in some dictionaries. Other dictionaries wrinkle their nose at the appending of appendages onto “democracy.”

What these “democratizations” mean is that everyone else will be able to do a technology without having to be a specialist with advanced degrees or certifications or something else that everyone else doesn’t have.

I have heard of these things for over 40 years. “This new tool will allow you to program a computer without programming a computer!”

What that really means is, “This new tool will allow you to do things without having to talk to those people who have knowledge that you don’t have.”

We could have the democratization of medicine, plumbing, construction (wouldn’t you go into a high-rise building built by people who know nothing about construction?), and everything.

One solution is to teach the specialists how to be nice to the non-specialists. You know, transform those ogres into handsome princes or something. I guess making a new tool that replaces the ogre is easier than make the ogre nice. We shall see.

by Dwayne Phillips

We all need assistance in our work. There are requests for assistance that bring assistance. There are requests for assistance that bring nothing.

We all need assistance in our work. Persons who can do their job well all the time are stalled in a job that doesn’t challenge them. There are requests for assistance that bring assistance. There are requests for assistance that bring nothing.

Method 1 of requesting assistance: “I put this together. It needs work. Here.”

Method 2 of requesting assistance: “I’m stuck on this, especially the part that does such-and-such. Would you please give me some tips so that I can start moving again?”

Method 1 is an example of superior-to-inferior speech. “You do what I tell you to do. I am telling you to fix my work.” If a person was hired to fix the work of another, fine. That is the job that brings compensation, do it.

If, however, the speaker and listener are members of a team, method 1 is unacceptable.

If the speaker in method 1 knows the product needs work, then that person should catch their breath, roll up their sleeves, use whatever cliche’ they need, and work on it. Don’t tell someone else to do what you should be doing.

Method 2 is an example of how co-workers speak to one another when they work together. It is a polite request on specific items. The listener can do something with this as a co-worker, not an underling.

A response to such method 1 and method 2 that I have heard often is something like, “I don’t have time for all this quibbling about words. It’s all the same, just do it” If you say such, become accustomed to others never assisting you.

by Dwayne Phillips

People differ in work styles. Failing to admit such is failure. Let’s discuss our difference and work.

We turn in products on schedule, sometimes literally at the last hour. Well, what’s the problem? The products are on time.

And many are fine with that. If you finish ahead of time, you show that you don’t have enough work to do, so the customer will reduce your resources so that you have to push hard to make it at the last minute.

But, being ahead is a good thing. It shows decisiveness and action and competence. And you have the surplus resources to surge for the unexpected, and if the current virus situation doesn’t show that unexpected happens, what will?

Regardless, we … could go on forever with “ands,” “buts,” “regardless,” etc.

Perhaps we could speak directly, clearly, and congruently.

I finished my part of the product four days ago. I am troubled by you delaying the final step until the last hour. Errors appear at the last hour, and we don’t have time to correct them because it is the last hour.

I want to think about this. I appreciate you finishing days early. I saw your product, and I am thinking about my part. The final quality is acceptable to our customer, even though it isn’t acceptable to you.

Let’s stop the other stuff and speak as adults.

by Dwayne Phillips

Just as every event provides a learning, every event provides an opportunity. The choice to see and seize it is ours.

The times are a troubling. What’s new? Everything is new; nothing is new.

The times present us with the choice to shrug or to learn. We are paying the tuition by living in troubling times, are we denying ourselves the education?

In the same vein, the troubling times provide us with opportunities. Are we seeing and seizing the opportunities, or shrugging?

This weekend (I write early in June 2020), people are crying—literally crying tears of anguish and heartbreak—because some persons are treating some other persons as if they were not persons. That is awful.

The injustice is also an opportunity. We can now take the big injustice and exemplify it by showing how we can be more human, humane, and just in our workplace.

In the past, such as two months ago, such calls would be derided as naive. This weekend, however, well, we are not so quick to deny injustice no matter how large or small. This is an opportunity.

This is not a call for “you can’t let a good crisis go to waste.” I find that manipulative, unethical, and unjust.

This is a call for, “Did you notice something? What can we do starting right here, right now, with the persons in this room? With me and you?”

by Dwayne Phillips

“I don’t know” and “I don’t want to say” are close cousins. They also carry much information if we are willing to listen.

• “I don’t know.”
• “I can’t say.”
• “I don’t want to say anything now as I may be divulging too much or incorrect information.”

Would you please tell me something? Wait, the other person is telling me something. It may not be what I want to hear, but the other person is telling me something.

Ignorance is information—valuable information.

• The other person doesn’t have information.
• The other person cannot find the words.
• The other person cannot massage the data into information.
• The other person is afraid.

The first shows that the other person may lack the resources to gather information.

The second shows that the other person may lack the resources to communicate.

The third shows that the other person may lack the resources to analyze data.

The last item on the list is frightening to me. I am working with a frightened person. What monster lurking?

The entire list provides me with further questions like, “May I provide resources?”

Hmmm, now we are working again instead of staring across a table at one another.

by Dwayne Phillips

I guess we changed our minds about a few things.

Remember when we wanted to remove harsh chemicals from our homes? We wanted to use simpler soap and water to clean things. Now we want chlorine to disinfect our lives. Chlorine was invented in WWI (that was 1914-1918 for non history buffs) as a poison to kill people.

Remember when we wanted to save water? Now we let the water run for twenty seconds while we wash our hands. Let’s see, twenty seconds each person for a family of five…carry the one…and we are using a whole lotta’ water.

Remember when we wanted to reduce the screen time for our kids. They just didn’t need to be looking at those computers and tablets and such. Now we put them in front of the screens for their entire school day.

Remember the “Play 60” campaign from the NFL. Have our kids out playing hard for 60 minutes a day. Run and play and exercise. Now, well they can run and play as long as they don’t play with anyone else. Matter of fact, they need to be in the house where they are isolated and are looking at their computer screen doing their school work.

Remember when we had open work spaces at work? We didn’t want walls and barriers. Those things stilted communication and thoughts. Now, we want all the barriers we can get. If we can’t put up plastic shields, we’ll put on enough masks so that no one can see our expressions.

Remember when working from home just wasn’t going to work? We needed to be in the office. We needed face time with the boss. The boss needed to see us working to know that we were working. Many of us seem to be working just fine from home. Perhaps the boss figured out what it was we did all day.

Remember when the rich ordered their groceries and the food was delivered to their door? I guess that hasn’t changed. Maybe we changed who we call “rich” and “poor.” If you go to the grocery store yourself, or work at a grocery store, you are “poor.”

I guess there are more things we used to want to do, but seem to have forgotten. If I keep typing some will come to mind. But these are enough to make the point. I suppose there is a point to this.

by Dwayne Phillips

Angst rules America this week. We have to do something. What can I change and how? Here is a set of questions to guide me.

I write this in early June 2020. We have demonstrations and protests calling for justice and change. Perhaps I am too rational or practical, but I feel that if we want change, we have to think about it and tackle what we can tackle.

• Question A: What is it I want to see changed?
• Questions B: What would have to happen for this change to occur? Can I start this?

For example, (A) I want all Americans to be fair towards all Americans. This is limited in that I am not considering everyone on earth. (B) Well, I think I am stuck on this one.

Let’s change our answer to (A) to find something we can do. (A) I want local law enforcement to change their policies towards encountering citizens suspected of wrongdoing. (B) Local Police chiefs could do this. I could gather 100 friends to sit on the sidewalk at Police headquarters so that the local Police chief would talk to us. I could gather 100 friends who each gather 100 signatures on a petition asking for reformed policies. Hmmm, this one might work.

Let’s try this one. (A) I want local police to change how they train local police officers. (B) I could obtain a copy of the curriculum used to train police officers, publish it locally, and petition for changes. I could obtain this by filing the local version of a Freedom of Information Act request.

All that is needed to start this change is for me to file a local FOIA request. I can start that change all by myself this evening.

That is a good candidate for me to cause change.

I am sure there are others.

Consider a really rich and famous person. That really rich and famous person could hire a think tank (any group of smart persons) to answer these questions and find good ideas. Instead, we seem to see and hear really rich and famous persons saying nice things, but doing nothing.

(A) I want a really rich and famous person to hire a think tank to find several dozen good ideas that persons like me could use to cause change. (B) I send emails, cards, and letters to really rich and famous person asking for such. I can start that change all by myself this evening.

NOTE: the email addresses for CEOs of companies are usually listed on the company’s website (think Apple, Google, Amazon, Facebook, and others). While the CEO won’t read the email, they have groups of persons who do read them. Perhaps if I send a dozen or so such emails each evening for a week, one of them will do something. I can do that this week all by myself.

I am not really smart. I am sure readers can find more ideas that they can start today to cause change.

by Dwayne Phillips

Back to fundamentals. We don’t always have to choose one or the other. We can have both.

“You have to pick,” said a well meaning person.

“I choose all of the above,” said another well meaning person.

“No. That is not one of the choices,” said the first well meaning person as the face started to turn red.

“I like that choice. I’ll take it,” said the second well meaning person.

“You aren’t playing by the rules!” said the first well meaning person with a dark red face.

“I didn’t know we had rules. I didn’t know this was a game,” said the second well meaning person.

At some point, the first well meaning person storms out of the room muttering something derogatory about the second well meaning person.

There are times when we can admit that both choices are good in some situations. They aren’t wasteful redundant departments of redundancy. They are good choices for some persons at some times.

Instead of discussing philosophy, let us move on accomplishing our given tasks.