Working Up

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.

by Dwayne Phillips

Could we simply speak English? Could we try to speak in a way that makes it difficult to misunderstand?

It would be nice if we both simply spoke English and tossed in a few diagrams to illustrate our thoughts.

Slang? I may not know your slang. You may not know mine. We could see who can say the most slang that is not known to the other person.

I would win as I am older and know more. I read “The Hacker’s Dictionary” and know The Jargon File. (Have you even heard of those things?) Big deal, that won’t help us communicate.

So, could we both simply speak English and toss in a few diagrams to illustrate our thoughts?

by Dwayne Phillips

Improving what and how we do things is a touchy subject. Approach it carefully.

“I wish they would do better,” said the optimist.

“They are awful at this,” said the disgusted.

“Improve,” said the commander.

And what other stereotypical comments can we make when we see someone do something poorly?

First, what does this matter to me? Does someone else doing something less than I want affect me? Often, the answer is, “Yes.” The person is part of our organization and presenting to another group that pays our salaries. Poorly performing means no pay check next week. The opposite case is that poorly performing is merely an irritation to me, and I need to move on.

Next, assume it matters to me. Now what? Speak clearly for myself and speak to the outcome of the event.

“John, when you present our capabilities, I see our customers wincing and furrowing their brows. The next day I receive messages of displeasure from them. Have you noticed any of this? Do you receive any of these messages?”

In my experience, John has neither seen the body language nor received the emails. Once he sees those cues, how does he react?

There are places that give instruction in how better to present materials or whatever it is we are attempting to do. “John, are you aware of these places that show how to present materials?”

Once we are aware of negative reactions and know of places of instruction, what do we do? Now we reach the more difficult question. Now we have to decide the bigger issue. Such is the nature of trying to be adults.

by Dwayne Phillips

We review some fundamental concepts of programming and building things using any other technique.

Now and then in conversations with well-learned and well-accomplished persons, I find that they lack in some of the basics I had the privilege to learn many years ago. It seems that we either forget these or never have the benefit of learning them.

Here are the two main principles of David Parnas (there are many sources online and elsewhere of these):

1. The developer of a software component must provide the intended user with all the information needed to make effective use of the services provided by the component, and should provide no other information.
2. The implementor of a software component must be provided with all the information necessary to carry out the given responsibilities assigned to the component, and should be provided with no other information.

Number 1: I built some thing that you can use. I tell you how to use it and nothing else. If I tell you the inner workings, well, we could all find ourselves in all sorts of trouble. Think not? See, for example, hacking into systems that were not supposed to be hackable.

Number 2: When I am building a thing that you can use, I must be told all the things it is supposed to do and nothing else. If I know all the details of the rest of the world and how all others in the world might want to use this and everything else, well, we could all find ourselves in all sorts of trouble.

But I want to know more! Good for you. Curiosity and learning are wonderful things when applied appropriately. It is unfortunate that in learning, sometimes we all fail to learn when to stop learning. Some persons misuse what they learn.

End of short review. I encourage further digging if these are new to you or you forgot them long ago and just remembered them.

by Dwayne Phillips

Events occur constantly. Each is an opportunity to observe and learn and learn to observe ourselves.

The title of this post is one of those questions that a person can ask another after any event on any day.

It is personal as it is about the other person. I don’t care if someone was trying to teach the times tables from 1 through 13. What did you learn?

• I learned that I hate memorizing things.
• I learned that half of the times tables are already in the other half.
• I learned that I could punch up the answer on my watch so fast that I didn’t need to learn the answers.

The question is also a spur to learning. No matter what the event, learning is available to each of us. It is up to us to choose to learn or not.

The question is also a spur to observing. Events occur constantly. Did you notice the last three events that happened this morning?

The question is a constant training of observing and learning. Often we should learn to observe ourselves and what we just learned from that squirrel running across the law and that little bird that landed in the tree outside the window.

Life is full. We can pull from that fullness. It is our choice.

by Dwayne Phillips

The person who picks the adjectives have the power.

I heard an idea. Is it a good idea? Is it a bad idea?

The difference between “good” and “bad” is which adjective is attached to the noun. The person who chooses which adjective has the power. That person interpreted the idea in light of the current situation. That person put the idea in one corner or other of the room.

This falls into the Interpretation past of the Satir Model of Interaction (one description of this model is here.) Weinberg called it Meaning and Significance.

Whatever phase of whatever model you might prefer, the person who picks the adjective has the power. That person also has the first opportunity to be wrong.

With great power comes, well, you know, the chance to judge poorly.

by Dwayne Phillips

Sometimes research leads old guys to remember lessons from way back. Crisis helps us forget to our peril

The other day at work, we were speaking with a thought leader in an area of technology. This person truly is an expert and a thought leader in the future of his area.

The future belongs to those who:

• have modular designs (architecture is the words everyone uses today)
• flexible in thought
• can change
• have portable software
• a few more

Wait, I heard these things in the late 1970s. Have most people forgotten these things? Have most people never heard of these things?

Another thought: in the recent past, we lurch from one crisis to another. A crisis causes us to put some software out there quickly. Do something that works now. We will refactor or fix it real soon now. We wake a year later and “real soon now” hasn’t arrived. We have a mess. I suppose we call that “technical debt.”

Crisis gives us a reason to forget the things we know we should do. The human condition remains. Let’s try to remember what we know.

by Dwayne Phillips

Sometimes, I want to talk with another person about something. Is that what I really want?

I have heard a concern expressed in many ways, including:

• We haven’t talked about this
• We need to talk about this sometime
• I want to talk about this
• I want to tell you something

These are different ways to say the same thing. None, however, state what we want to state. That is, “You haven’t acknowledged my concerns.”

You nodded your head, patronized me, and walked away unchanged
The “changed” part is crucial. You haven’t acted like you changed (the way I wanted you to change).

Perhaps, the other person (or me when I am the other person) should say, “This is what I heard you say.” (Repeat as best as I can.) I think you are feeling this and that. Those are major concerns. What would you like me to do?” (This is not a promise to do what the other person wants, but a promise to hear what the other person wants.)

End with, “I am happy that we could talk about this.”