Working Up

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

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We Don’t Have Time

November 6th, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips The old saying about not having time to do it once still holds. Perhaps we will learn one day. There is an old saying about not having the time to do something right, but always having the time to do it over and over and over and… I’m not sure who said […]

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Tags: Choose · Communication · Expectations · Time · Work

The Experts and the Rest of Us

June 5th, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips The experts devise a better way to do things. The rest of us attempt to follow their expert lead. We flop. Object-oriented programming flopped. Microservices and serverless computing flopped. I guess I could think of a few other great ideas that flopped. How about teaching kids to read via that total method […]

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Tags: Choose · Expertise · Failure · Fatigue · Learning · Process

A New Writing Project at Home

April 6th, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips I don’t want to jump into the next book-writing project at home. Or do I? I just finished a writing project at home. Done, wrapped up, self-published on the places where my friends and relatives can by it for 99¢. Sigh. I don’t want to jump into the first thing that pops […]

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Tags: Adapting · Alternatives · Analysis · Choose · Writing

Meta Mistakes

March 9th, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Some of the worst mistakes I make are my mistakes about my mistakes and the corrections of my mistakes. Confused? Most of us are. We all make mistakes. Sorry to write that, but it is true. Then we make meta mistakes. These are mistakes about our mistakes and the corrections of our […]

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Tags: Accountability · Choose · Excuses · Leadership · Learning · Mistakes · Reaction

Not This Place and Time

February 23rd, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips The persons who are in this place at this time to decide this thing are usually in the wrong place and time and deciding the wrong thing. Let’s decide. We are the deciders. We are in the deciding position because at some time and place in the past we showed how well […]

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Tags: Choose · Decide · Learning · Mistakes · People · Time

Worthwhile Problems?

January 26th, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips I see amazing solutions and advances in technology everyday. Are all these, however, solving worthwhile problems? I recently read about how persons at Nvidia created a system that modifies a live video so that the eyeballs of the person on camera point to the camera. This happens while the real eyeballs are […]

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Tags: Choose · Engineering · Problems · Solutions · Technology · Wishes

Deciding

December 29th, 2022 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips One of the fundamentals in the engineering of systems and architecture is a “D” word that many loathe in our 21st century. “Let’s hold off on this until we have to decide,” said a hopeful inhabitant of a post-modern universe. Yes, there are things that we don’t have to decide until we […]

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Tags: Choose · Decide · Engineering · General Systems Thinking · Systems

Caution: Piece Purchase

August 22nd, 2022 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips I only want to pay for what I use. Caution. While that sounds fine at first, there are implications. Technology has enabled us to go in that perilous direction. I only want to pay for what I use. I have this cable TV package (Yes, I am one of those old folks […]

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Tags: Agreement · Choose · Customer · Economics · Remote Work · Work

Caution: Piece Work

August 11th, 2022 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips When my work is done, my day is done. That is what I want. Really? Caution. That leads down a perilous path. I work from home most of the time. This pandemic and such and other factors mean that I don’t have an office in the building. I can go to the […]

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Tags: Accountability · Choose · Remote Work · Work

The Right Word and the Wrong Word

August 4th, 2022 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips It is important to use the right or correct word and avoid using the wrong word. This is an old fundamental in writing and speaking. Why am I writing about this? Because I continue to encounter professionals who make this error often. What is the right word and the wrong word? Consider […]

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Tags: Choose · Communication · Fatigue · Vocabulary · Word · Writing