Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

Part 2 of 2 blogs on writing about…of course I write about what don’t I know. How else would I ever learn anything?

This one doesn’t make as much sense as part 1 did. How can I write about something that I don’t know. Well…

First, I learn.

Second, I write.

Or maybe I have the order backwards. First, I write all my questions and the things that I do know about something of which I am ignorant. Now I am THINKING and LEARNING.

Thinking and learning. Hmmm, those are some pretty good things to consume my time. They could be dangerous, but we are brave people, so let’s indulge in them.

I think I may have reached the point of this little blog post. Ignorance can chase me away. Ignorance can lead me into danger where I have to think and learn and write. And I can also write about what I learned in my dangerous adventures into thinking and learning and writing.

Hmmm, this is a pretty good exercise after all this writing about things I don’t know.

by Dwayne Phillips

Part 1 of 2 blogs on writing about…of course I write about what I know. That is what is in my head.

One write adage is, “Write about what you know.”

Of course. This is a no brainer, right? What else would I write about. Let’s see, nuclear physics. That is something of which I am completely ignorant. Blank screen appears.

Writing a novel. Hmmm. I have done that. I can write about that. I have lots of thoughts on that one. Let me sit and write. On second thought, I have so many thoughts, let me sit with a pencil and paper and sketch outlines and mind maps and ideas so I can write and write and write.

Yes, write about what we know. That is a good place to start as it allows us to start by writing, not by reading half of Wikipedia or the Google universe or something. Grab something we know and start banging the keys or dragging the pencil across paper.

Write.

by Dwayne Phillips

If we can’t provide a simple representation of a system, perhaps we have a mess and not a system.

A: Can you draw me a picture of this? Something that shows how all the parts fit together?

B: Uh, well, no. No one has ever asked for such.

A: Well, I’m new here and would like to understand how everything fits together. Just a sketch. Just sketch it out for me.

B: Well, uh, you know, you see this is really complicated and…

A: I understand. Just a sketch. Just the basic pieces.

B: No, that isn’t possible here. We do complex work and capturing that in a picture just won’t work, and…

I have experienced the above conversation too often. The reason a picture is not possible is that no one understands the parts of the system. One reason no one understands the parts of the system is that the system isn’t a system. The system is actually a mess waiting to collapse.

No picture? That is often a sign of impending disaster.

There is a big dog standing outside the front door waiting to devour my homework on the way to school.

by Dwayne Phillips

How do you do something everyday for ten years? You do it everyday (for ten years).

Every morning, with very few exceptions, I sit and view the news on the Internet. I make notes in a weblog. See here and here. Recently, I noted that I had done this for ten years.

How do you do something for ten years? You do it one day, then the next, then the next. Simple? Yes. Easy? Not always.

It helps if you are interested in it, if you want to do it, if you have THE ENERGY (I guess that is the general term some people use). Why don’t I quit this? I enjoy it. I learn daily. I like to learn.

Please note: If you are 50 and start playing the guitar, by the time you are 70 you can say you have played the guitar for twenty years. That may impress others. In any event, you will have played the guitar for twenty years and you may be a pretty good guitar player.

How do you play the guitar for twenty years? You play it today. You play it the next day, and the next, and the next. It is surprising how ten or twenty years pass.

Simple? Yes.

Write a short story this week. Write a short story next week. Pretty soon you have written several hundred of them.

by Dwayne Phillips

In many cases it is a bad idea to have the problem solver in the room when a problem describer describes a problem for the first time.

About a generation ago, there was a movie about engineers and scientists at work in a small tech company. A couple of consultants arrive and talk to employees one at a time. One employee describes his job of talking to users to learn what they want and then talking to engineers to tell them what the users want. The consultants ask the obvious, “Why don’t the engineers talk to the users directly?”

That scene highlighted some of the folly of the work place in that movie. Still, there is some wisdom in this person who spoke with one group at a time and kept the two groups separated.

When a problem describer, like a “user,” describes a problem, they are baring their soul. They are saying something they are not supposed to be saying. We simply don’t like whiners and complainers in our culture, and when I am describing a problem I am a whiner and complainer. Describing problems is difficult both emotionally and technically.

When problem solvers hear a problem, they instantly move into problem-solving mode. That is why they are called “problem solvers.” Problem-solving mode usually brings pained expressions to the face. The problem solver is struggling to solve something that is difficult. Struggle brings such expressions.

Two things at this point:

(1) The problem solver is not listening any longer. Once we hear the first sentence, our brain shifts from listening to solving.

(2) The problem describer sees a pained expression on the problem solvers face and connects their words to pain in another person. This is not a good connection. The other person hates me or so it seems.

Sigh. Breathe.

There is some wisdom in that movie. Sometimes we don’t want to have the problem describers describe the problem directly to the problem solvers. This is especially true if it is the first time the describer describes the problem.

Try to create time and space.

If you want the two persons to meet face to face, allow the problem describer to describe the problem several times over a period of time before meeting the problem solver. The problem describer will lose some of my angst.

Have a third person (me), describe the problem to the problem solver several times over a period of time before having the problem solver meet the problem describer. The problem solver will have worked some of the problems and won’t be in as much struggle.

I am all for persons meeting one another. Let’s use a little judgement and time as we arrange these meetings.

by Dwayne Phillips

An exercise to do at work or anywhere that more than one person gathers from time to time. Caution: this is not for the faint of heart.

Here is something to do at work or anywhere that more than one person gathers from time to time:

Sit in a circle. Go around the circle. Each person says,

My wishes for me and us here in this place are:

Here it comes folks. Are you really ready to hear the wishes of the others whom you see everyday? Are you really ready to tell everyone else what you wish? Again, this is not for the faint of heart.

To make it a little easier…

• We all know that wishes rarely come true
• They are just wishes, sort of like fairy tales or whatever comes to mind
• Still, there is something behind the wishes

Seek to understand what is behind the wishes. Seek to understand something about the other person(s) and about yourself.

Again, this is not for the faint of heart. Adulthood is not required, but it helps.

Mr. Cook,

I have been a user of Apple computers for about the last 15 years. Just this week, I bought an new iMac to replace the one I have been using daily without hiccup for six years. I always use Apple’s Time Machine to have a good backup of my iMac.

When I picked up my new iMac at the Apple retail store (see below), I asked the pleasant young lady how I should go about making my new iMac like my old one with all my files, apps, etc. She told me what to do and how to use Migration Assistant. Well, that was a disaster. Her instructions led to several hours of moving files only to find that everything was in the wrong place and the accounts were wrong.

Back to the Apple store the next morning with my new iMac under my arm and my backup drive in my jacket pocket. Eight hours later I was finished.

Three tech support persons at the Genius Bar “knew” what to do. Each spent an hour or two only to learn that they didn’t know what to do. They put me on the phone with a person who “knew” what to do. An hour with this person revealed that she didn’t know what to do.

Finally, after six hours and four “gosh, I thought that would work,” episodes, the person on the phone transferred me to another person on the phone. This gentleman looked at the records and said something like, “I have no idea why anyone told you to do those things. They are obviously wrong. Here is what to do.”

Two hours later, after the files moved once again from my backup drive to the new iMac, I was finished.

Once every four or five or six years I buy a new Apple computer. The restore-from-backup procedure is a little different as times and software changes. I can’t use the method I used the last time. It seems, however, that genius bar persons in Apple stores and support persons on the phone would do this type of thing daily or at least several times a week.

Well, just thought I would let you know about the state-of-practice with technical support at Apple. It was quite disappointing.

What I found appalling is at the end of an eight-hour day in the Apple store, no one, no one, no one at the store would talk to me about, “Sorry this all happened. Is there anything we can do to make this right?”

It would be nice to hear from someone on your staff with that statement and question.

A still loyal customer,

and so on, store information withheld to protect the innocent and others as well…

And yes, I actually did send this email to Mr. Cook. I have read the staff members at Apple read these emails and respond in some cases. We shall see.

by Dwayne Phillips

Limiting what persons can say can be tricky. This is especially true in America where we don’t have much practice at it.

It appears to me that censorship is growing in America. We have too much “fake news,” so we need to stop some of it. At least some persons believe the previous statement and conclusion. I am not so sure, but that is another topic for another day.

Anyways, Facebook, Google, and such are being called to stop all this fake news. (ANOTHER DIGRESSION: why aren’t The National Enquirer and The Onion being called to stop their fake news?) Facebook and Google (and other famous folks) are stumbling along in their censorship programs. They rush new AI software into the limelight and then discover they have goofed and, well, what else do you do when you goof?

Here we find ourselves…we aren’t very good at censorship in America. I guess we haven’t practiced it enough to see the pitfalls and avoid the goofs. I like that. I hate to see the day when we have practiced enough to be good at it.

by Dwayne Phillips

Sometimes the problem is that we have too many people in the room. Move the discussion to a smaller group at another time and place.

Decisions can be difficult. Reaching a consensus among a group of people can be difficult. One technique to overcoming these difficulties is to reduce the number of people in the room.

Inclusion is great. “Buy-in” is great. These are great in the right places at the right times. Reaching a tricky decision is often NEITHER the right place NOR the right time. Narrow the focus. Include only the necessary people. Ask others to leave the room. Take the necessary people to another room. Be nice, but firm. Reduce the number of people in the room.

by Dwayne Phillips

Rarely do I give health advice. Please read this little bit of health advice—especially if you have headaches in the morning.

Health advice for writers and others: I like this post about night routines that bring better sleep.

For me, the big item in this post is hydration. For years I suffered with terrible morning headaches simply because I didn’t drink enough water in the evening. That was all there was to it—not work stress, not worry, not anything other than drinking two or three big glasses of water after 5PM. Please, don’t suffer like I did. Drink water in the evening and have a better life.

This is especially critical if you are trying to work for yourself as a writer or other freelance anything. Without your health, you have no income and cannot support the ones you love—including yourself.