Working Up

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

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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

Rigidly Flexible

July 28th, 2022 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips As a writer and just about anyone else, we must be flexible in a rigid manner. The same is true for almost every adjective and its antonym. A writer must be flexible. Except when the writer must be rigid. Except when exceptions arise. The same goes for just about any adjective and […]

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Tags: Adapting · Agility · Alternatives · Choose · Communication · Language

Happy Birthday America, Again

July 4th, 2022 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips This is the third or fourth time I wish us all a happy birthday. Happy birthday America. We are free to address our grievances to those who govern us. That one happens so often and freely that we forget someone had to put it in the Constitution. Congress cannot stop us from […]

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Tags: America · Choose

The Tyranny of The Urgent vs The Primacy of The Relevant 

May 12th, 2022 · No Comments

By Dwayne Phillips What is urgent and what is relevant often do not match. Should I balance them or is that not relevant? What are you saying or doing today? Is that the most urgent thing you can say or do today? No, but we have a plan. We are working towards something big, we […]

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Tags: Choose · Decide · Relevant · Urgent

Mistakes and Learning

May 5th, 2022 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips We all make mistakes. Some of us learn from some of our mistakes some of the time. The choice is ours. We all make mistakes. That is part of being imperfect humans. How many mistakes did I make this week? How about just this morning? (Forgot to bring my laptop’s power cord, […]

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Tags: Choose · Humility · Learning · Mistakes

A Meat Grinder (time for a reframe)

March 17th, 2022 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips That job is a “meat grinder.” It has chewed up several people. Stay away. Or do we simply need to reframe the situation? While writing this, I have spent much of the past week(s) looking at the help wanted ads and talking to several companies about their job openings. Several of the […]

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Tags: Adapting · Choose · Jobs · Learning · Reframe · Stories

Telephone and Smartphone

December 2nd, 2021 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips When the terrain and the map differ, believe the terrain. It is there in front of us. We ignore this at our peril. We have a telephone (at least I still do in my home) and a smartphone. We call both of them “phones.” Their names are the same. How we represent […]

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Tags: Alternatives · Appearances · Choose · Differences · Experiment · General Systems Thinking

Do You Want to Communicate?

November 22nd, 2021 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Of course we want to communicate. That is a basic. Nevertheless, here is a small test to measure the actual desire to communicate. Here is a quick test to measure a person’s desire to communicate to others. Here is a blank piece of paper. Here is a pencil. Write three things (plus […]

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Tags: Authentic · Choose · Clarity · Communication · Growth · Testing · Writing