Working Up

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

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Responsible

October 27th, 2025 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Let’s consider what it means to be responsible. Responsible Responsable response able able to respond Are you responsible for something? No, that’s not my responsibility! Oh, you are completely unable to respond to that?Well, no, but er uh how did I get into this conversation?

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Tags: Accountability · Adults · Authentic · Practice · Reaction · Word

Simple Tools, Strong Emotions

September 8th, 2025 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Sometimes the best pieces of writing are still from simple tools and strong emotions. I recently read yet another post from a writer about how in the world you can write while you are traveling or on vacation or something or other that perplexes those who attempt to write. Ten years ago […]

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Tags: Authentic · Communication · Notebook · Remote Work · Work · Writing

Eye Contact or “Hey, I’m Over Here”

August 14th, 2025 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Another fundamental in speak to people seems to have been lost. I recently had the misfortune of sitting in a conference room for a period of time that was greater than three hours and somewhat less than an infinity of pain. I, and another couple dozen colleagues, was facing a giant screen […]

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Tags: Authentic · Clarity · Communication · Culture · Respect

Meeting Mumble: Fear and Confidence

July 10th, 2025 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Ever notice how some people speak software during meetings? Are they afraid? Where is their confidence? I don’t hear well. Too many years in noisy equipment rooms with fans blowing too loud. Hence, I concentrate on what people say and the volume they use when saying it. I’ve noticed that many people […]

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Tags: Appearances · Authentic · Communication · Management · Meetings

Ornamental or Practical

May 1st, 2025 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Ornamental objects are preserved. Practical objects are frayed and discarded. It is easy to confuse the two. Ever see a coffee pot from the 1940s? Except in old photo collections, I haven’t. Ever see a coffee service made of silver and engraved by a master craftsman? Yes I have. Museums are full […]

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Tags: Appearances · Authentic · Context · General Systems Thinking · Practice · Thinking

The Name Doesn’t Make Sense, But

April 3rd, 2025 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Much of the jargon we use doesn’t make sense. If we didn’t use the nonsense, no one would understand us. We use jargon. I work in computers, and we are one of the worst offenders of jargon in communication. The jargon is nonsense. If I used real words, however, no one would […]

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Tags: Authentic · Clarity · Communication · Vocabulary · Word · Writing

Significant and Embarrassing Achievement

March 13th, 2025 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Sometimes some person has a significant achievement, but the resources weren’t approved, so it was all quite embarrassing. This is a true story that occurred in the last century. A person at work had a neighbor who worked at a different government agency. The other agency had a colossal failure with some […]

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Tags: Accountability · Authentic · Chaos · Data Science · Emergency · Leadership · Work

We’re Not Paying You to Be a Typist

February 10th, 2025 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips One of the reasons to use these chattering bot word generators is simply to stop wasting time. A typist is a professional who specializes in accurately and efficiently converting information into digital format. This may involve transcribing handwritten notes, audio recordings, or printed documents into electronic files. They also possess strong data […]

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Tags: Authentic · Change · Communication · Questions · Thinking · Work · Writing

One More Adjective, One More Adverb

February 3rd, 2025 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Often, with the best of intentions, groups of people writing something add needless adjective and adverbs. There is a group of persons. They are writing directions, a memo, something important or seemingly so. Someone, earnestly with the best of intentions, suggests, “We should change ‘calculate performance’ to ‘carefully calculate detailed performance.’” Just […]

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Tags: Authentic · Brevity · Clarity · Communication · Meaning · Reading · Writing

Facts and Adjectives

January 20th, 2025 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips We can’t have both facts and adjectives. Can we? Facts are facts. It is 27° F outside. Adjectives are, well sort of fuzzy. It is cold outside. (Cold to whom? Cold compared to what?) “The fact is, they were aggressive.” Oops. “Aggressive” is an adjective. “The fact is, he is tall.” Well, […]

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Tags: Authentic · Communication · Engineering · Word