Working Up

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

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New (Mis)Use for Facial Recognition – Real-Time Political Polls

July 22nd, 2013 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Facial recognition software can (probably) detect emotional reactions. We enter the age of the real-time political poll and its (largely unintended) consequences. A recent study delves into the use of facial recognition software in education. I like the idea. Have the computer detect confusion, frustration, etc. in students using computer-based training or […]

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Tags: Change · Technology

Act Early, Act Small

May 30th, 2013 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Basic advice to managers about correcting the course of an endeavor. Be quick and be easy on everyone. The title of this little management advisory is from author and consultant Jerry Weinberg. He wrote about it in one of his books. I also found mention of this in a blog post by […]

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Tags: Change · Communication · Management

We Need More Permission Givers

May 20th, 2013 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips I suffered from this malady much of my life. I had an idea, but I didn’t have permission to do it. When you meet people who are like I used to be, give them permission. That is a really short blog post. Perhaps it should be a tweet or something else, but […]

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Tags: Change · Culture

Preventing “They”

April 15th, 2013 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips “They are against us” can be prevented. They want to take away our right to… They are coming to get us. They are going to tax us. They are going to do all sorts of harm to us. Whatever the issue, whatever the time, whatever the place, we tend to find ourselves […]

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Tags: Change · Communication · Differences

xOS Compatible

March 14th, 2013 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Same song, “x” is replaced by something else. It is called “software compatibility.” A little history in the field of computing. In the beginning, the dominant cost was hardware. Two or three programmers could occupy the most expensive computer in the world. The computer cost a million times more than the programmer’s […]

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Tags: Change · Computing

Work Redefined – Workers, too

October 18th, 2012 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips The definition of work is changing with more people forming distant, loosely connected teams. This requires people who can understand not only the words but the intent of a writer and a speaker. Here is a new definition of work: Work is something we do, not somewhere we go. For years, the […]

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Tags: Change · Communication · Work

The One Person I can Change

September 24th, 2012 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips There are a lot of changes I would like to see in other people. Despite that, the one person I can change is me. I read many blog posts describing how to change people who need to be changed. Of course they need to be changed (not); they are keeping me from […]

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Tags: Change · Choose

Time and Change

August 2nd, 2012 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Change in people (and what other type of change is interesting enough to consider?) takes time. Plan for it. Change takes time as people just don’t change quickly. Sometimes in an emergency we change quickly, but who wants to face an emergency? Here is a true story. I was working on the […]

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Tags: Change · Management · Time

Things Tugging at Me and Rules

July 16th, 2012 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips When you feel something tugging at you on the inside, you have hit a personal rule. Recently, I had three gentlemen riding around with me in my van. We were visiting other office buildings in our area. Our first stop was for lunch at an bagel place. We had sandwiches and soup, […]

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Tags: Change · Choose · Culture

Manager Slang: Get Well

July 12th, 2012 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Project managers often use major changes to “get well.” They use the confusion of a major change to cover over lots of problems. Projects change. That appears to be a fact of life. Every now and then, a major change occurs. Examples include, Two large organizations merge A large organization splits into […]

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Tags: Change · Communication · Estimation · Management · Uncategorized