Working Up

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

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The Age of Algorithms (a convenient excuse)

July 5th, 2021 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Sorry folks, “the algorithm found the answer that I used” is just another excuse. We choose what to do one way or another. “The computer made me do it!” Well, actually it was the algorithm underlying the software that runs on the computer. Hmmm. Who built the computer? Who created the algorithm? […]

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Tags: Alternatives · Choose · Decide · Design · Excuses · Tools

Start Small and then…

June 17th, 2021 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips There are many good reasons for starting small. One is that it allows room for growth, and growth brings with it optimism, hope, and other good tidings. Start small. There are good reasons to start small. If I do it all wrong, I have only invested small resources like time, money, equipment, […]

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Tags: Alternatives · Hope · Learning

Our Reaction to…

May 20th, 2021 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Once again, its not the event, its our reaction to the event. Here is an exercise in reading news headlines. Read the headlines (these are paraphrased from the Washington Post on one day): Virus tied to increased risk of neurological and psychiatric illness The pandemic has caused parents to slow down Expanding […]

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Tags: Adults · Alternatives · Choose · Management · Reaction · Reframe

Anonymity in the Masked Society

April 19th, 2021 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips All this mask wearing allows me to not recognize and not talk to people when I’d rather just keep doing things I’d rather just keep doing. The year of the virus has brought us many changes. Let’s consider one that I discovered recently and like (on those occasions when I like it). […]

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Tags: Alternatives · Appearances · Conversation · Reaction · Virus

Gold Mine and Coal Mine

February 1st, 2021 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Are we spending time in gold mines or coal mines? Of course we want to be in gold mines. Untold riches. Right? Consider a few things. Gold Mine resource: Now and then we find a nugget of gold that is valuable almost beyond measure. Most of the time, most of the days, […]

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Tags: Alternatives · Choose · Concepts · Resources · Time

Happy New Year

December 31st, 2020 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Things are better. Today. The statement is true for everyday if you make it so. Happy new year. Well, I guess according to the official calendar the new year starts tomorrow. That, however, is just some arbitrary thing. Let’s just act like today is a new year. The general consensus is that […]

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Tags: Alternatives · Choose

The Blank Sheet of Paper Test

October 22nd, 2020 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Everyone claims agreement. Great. Let’s just test that statement with a blank sheet of paper. “We all agree on what we are to do!” claimed a person full of hope and anxious to get to work. “Wow, great,” said a second person who likes to hear good news, but is skeptical when […]

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Tags: Agreement · Alternatives · Failure · Meetings · Process

…Unless You Have a Tool

October 19th, 2020 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips There are many tasks that are difficult and require fine motor control and dexterity. They are darn near impossible—unless you have a tool. A few years ago, we were building a system that had a sensor. The sensor would sense the state of an other system and relay signals to a processor. […]

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Tags: Alternatives · General Systems Thinking · Systems · Tools

The History of Software Development, Software Engineering Revisited

September 3rd, 2020 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips The search to find a method to develop software tended to pass over the fact that smart people were doing a good job while those who struggled simply struggled. Back in the early days, smart persons were writing software. They did it well, their software ran correctly. Look at the first word, […]

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Tags: Alternatives · Management · Software

The History of Software Development, the Waterfall Revisited

August 27th, 2020 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips An old person, who was around in the 1970s, looks back at the Waterfall process of software development. The waterfall process. Of course the pure waterfall doesn’t work, that is why competent persons never used it. Go way back when and realize that graphics programs (Paint, Draw, Misio) weren’t available. It was […]

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Tags: Alternatives · Communication · Management · Software