by Dwayne Phillips Smart and caring people do stupid things. I do stupid things. I advocate going out and finding these stupid things. Knowing they exist helps to prevent and plan for them. There is a lot of stupid out there in the world. Otherwise smart and caring people doing things that are just plain […]
Learning Stupid
July 21st, 2011 · No Comments
Tags: Adapting · Change · Management
Dependably Undependable
November 18th, 2010 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Some people are undependable. Most of the time, I can choose to work with them or not. My choice can tell me much about myself. I know people who fit the title of this post. If they tell me they will be someplace at nine o’clock, I am almost certain they will […]
Tags: Adapting · Choose · Differences · Excuses · Learning · People · Reframe
Things every house should have
August 23rd, 2010 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Staying in other people’s houses shows what I miss from my own. I am in Louisiana for a week visiting with family. There are items that I have in my house in Reston that are not in the houses I am staying. I understand that these are personal preferences, and that everyone […]
Sometimes We don’t Want New Technology
July 5th, 2010 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips We don’t accept every new gadget that comes from the mind of an engineer. New uses need to be demonstrated for new technologies to take hold. Either that or new generations come along with different values. New technology comes every day. We immediately accept it into our lives without a thought of […]
Tags: Adapting · Change · Design · People · Privacy · Technology
Capturing the Crash
May 13th, 2010 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips I perform better when I feel better. I can decide to feel better thereby improve my performance. Have you ever had the opportunity to (safely) crash someone else’s car? To spin the tires? To do a 180-degree spin? I had the good fortune to do that about 30 years ago. It was […]
Tags: Adapting · Excuses · Process
Restrictions and Freedom
January 18th, 2010 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Written rules and regulations restrict us. They also allow us to forget about some hazards and concentrate freely on the problem at hand. Restrictions can permit freedom. The trick is to learn where the areas of freedom exist and how to use them. A colleague was contrasting the type of people who […]
Tags: Adapting · Communication · Government
Programming for Non-Programmers
December 31st, 2009 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Most computer programmers and builders of systems see ourselves as being helpful to the people who use the things we build. Beware, as most users of the things we build see us as interfering in their lives. This situation applies to must people in the world who see themselves as helpful (consider, […]
Going Native
November 18th, 2009 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips To provide a system for users, we need to know the users. How can we know the users without being a user and forgetting about the providers? I once worked a couple of years in an American Embassy in Africa. A constant concern at the U.S. Department of State was that its […]
Tags: Adapting · Culture · Differences · Government · Management
Adapting and Adaptability
November 16th, 2009 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Situations change and people adapt to those changes. Has adapting to chance taken away your ability to adapt? Change is constant Okay, that is neither original nor brilliant. It does, however, describe my experiences. Groups of people adapt Another observation that is neither original nor brilliant. What many people fail to observe […]
Tags: Adapting · Change · General Systems Thinking