Working Up

Working Up in Project Management, Systems Engineering, Technology, and Writing

Working Up header image 4

Evidence of Work

May 20th, 2024 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips In our brave new world of remote working and such, one thing remains: evidence of work. A: What are you doing? B: Working. A: What have you done? B: I read three books and six papers as assigned. A: Uh, why should I believe that? There is no evidence of work. All […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Adapting · Appearances · Remote Work · Review · Work

Which Part Do I Write Now?

May 2nd, 2024 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips I have to write all the parts to have a whole. But the parts that comprise the whole will probably change. I am facing a big writing project (“big” of course is subjective). I have divided the whole big project into parts. Now, write each part, check off the parts in the […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Adapting · Choose · Work · Writing

Remote Sensing Is Still Difficult

April 8th, 2024 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips We have yet more examples showing how remote sensing is difficult. One day, we learn this well enough to anticipate it? There have been several unmanned craft land on the moon recently. That is a great accomplishment to send something to the moon and have it land soft enough to still function. […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Adapting · Competence · Computing · Engineering · Learning · Remote Work · Risk · Technology

Meta-Competence

February 22nd, 2024 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Once again, thinking at one layer higher than usual may bring insights that prove effective. There is competence: someone is able to do something well. They know the topic, they know the skills, and they apply them all. The adjective “well” is used often and truthfully. Then there is meta-competence: this has […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Adapting · Choose · Competence · Management · Meta · Time

Juggling and Dropping Things

December 28th, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips One key to learning how to juggle is to know how to drop something. The same is true for managing competing priorities and tasks. Just about every “Help Wanted” ad I see has something in it about managing competing priorities or managing multiple tasks. I guess they want someone who can decide […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Adapting · Agility · Chaos · Decide · Jobs · Management · Multitasking

You Are Too Good, You Are Fired

October 30th, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Sometimes some persons excel to the point where they need to be fired. You have outgrown what we do here. You are much more capable than we need. You are fired. Those words don’t make sense. If someone has improved and improved, we want them to stay with us, right? Perhaps not. […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Adapting · Growth · Jobs · Learning · Technology · Tools

The Meeting Is Over, Now

October 12th, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Once a meeting ends, the after meeting begins and the real work is done. Can we do this better? I’ve seen it a thousand times—literally a thousand times. I’ve attended that many meetings. The meeting has its agenda and participants. The meeting is conducted. We are finished. People stay in the room […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Adapting · Change · Learning · Management · Meetings · Thinking · Work

Will It Scale?

September 28th, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips The infamous question in the title might as well be, “What can we do to kill this good idea?” We found something that works well for. We have used it several times. We intend to keep using it. Then someone asks the deadly question, “Will it scale?” They want to know when […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Adapting · Ideas · Learning · Management · Scale · Work

Take Pride in the Ability to Learn

September 25th, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Learning is a good thing. There are things I can do to prevent learning. Those are not so good. I don’t know it all. I do know how to learn. I do know how to recognize that I am clueless and I need to learn. Pride in knowing it all keeps me […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Adapting · Change · Humility · Learning

The (Un)Real Book Writers

May 29th, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Some people are using text-generating software to write a book a day. The world changes daily. Some people change while some don’t. Here is a story about some folks in India(?) who are putting several books a day every day onto online book sellers. The same bunch of folks are writing glowing […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Adapting · Artificial Intelligence · Jobs · Technology · Writing