Working Up

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

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The Event and the Reaction

November 4th, 2024 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Tomorrow is our national election day. As with almost everything, it is not the event, it is the reaction. A little research shows that I have written on this topic several times. I do so again as I think it is important. Tomorrow is our national election day in America. Millions of […]

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Tags: America · Choose · Ethics · Event · Reaction · Thinking

How Simple Can You Be?

September 19th, 2024 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips This is a question we should constantly ask. Try the simplest thing to be, to do, to have. Several years ago, I posed a question to participants at a conference session I was facilitating. The design problem was about storing information from a business. I wanted a design of a system that […]

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Tags: Choose · Design · Learning · Problems · Simple · Solutions

Let the Marketplace Decide

July 22nd, 2024 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Let’s stop hyperventilating about this and that AI thing. The marketplace will decide and with more wisdom than myself. I just read yet another article about yet another artificial super-duper large language model. How can a model of something be larger than the something? Isn’t a model a smaller representation of something? […]

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Tags: Choose · Decide · Design · Error · General Systems Thinking · Systems

Choosing the Problem

July 11th, 2024 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips For those who have the resources to choose the problems for those who can solve them, please, choose wisely. Smart scientists, engineers, and problem solvers abound. Well, maybe not abound, but given the population of the earth, there are millions of these folks. What problems are they trying to solve? Rocket engines? […]

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Tags: Choose · Problems · Requirements · Resources · Solutions

Time to Write

May 16th, 2024 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Many people struggle to find that elusive “time to write.” Others struggle to find to do anything else but write. Some people try in vain to find that elusive “time to write.” Something else is always in the way. This happens; that happens, and the time to write is not there. Fatigue […]

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Tags: Choose · Communication · Concepts · Reading · Time · Writing

Where I Come From, We…

May 13th, 2024 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips It is easy to use my past as a reason for my behavior. It’s just an excuse. Put it and all other excuses behind and be here and now and better. “You have to understand” (when we hear those words, run and hide quickly) I could keep this list going for a […]

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Tags: Accountability · Choose · Excuses · Expectations · Growth · History · Improvement · Influence · Learning

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 […]

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Tags: Adapting · Choose · Work · Writing

Big Government Overshadowed by Industry

April 25th, 2024 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips You think the US government is big and spends lots of money? It is now overshadowed by industry—especially in computing. I was an employee of the US Federal government for 28 years. We did big things in computing that cost big dollars. I once worked in a lab where we had four […]

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Tags: Artificial Intelligence · Choose · Government · History · Technology

Intentional: A Word Without Meaning

April 4th, 2024 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips To be intentional is to do something that you intended to do. I guess that is better than doing something accidentally or unintentionally. Yet, it has no meaning. To be intentional is to do something that you intended to do. It is to do something on purpose. Eating is intentional. I eat […]

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Tags: Choose · Communication · Decide · Ideas · Purpose · Reframe

Unnecessary Headaches

March 25th, 2024 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Some endeavors are so complicated that headaches are expected. Most endeavors, however, have headaches that are caused by the people involved and are unnecessary. Some endeavors are complicated. That is their nature. Concentration, lots of it, sometimes brings me a headache. I have worked in complicated endeavors and endured the natural and […]

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Tags: Alternatives · Choose · Competence · Health · Management · Problems · Stupid · Thinking