by Dwayne Phillips A simple tool for providing feedback to a writer. “Mary had a little lamb.” The above five-word phrase can be said at least ten different ways. It can be assigned at least ten different meanings. Which one did the writer intend? Now we come to providing feedback to a writer. Ask, “Do […]
Feedback: Do You Mean?
April 17th, 2025 · No Comments
Tags: Agreement · Clarity · Communication · Learning · Writing
Whatcha’ doin’?
April 10th, 2025 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips This is a simple, two-word question. It is fundamental if someone is paying for my time. What is all the fuss about? In the news recently, I find that a new advisor to a new executive asked all the employees to answer the basic question that is the title of this post. […]
Tags: Accountability · Communication · Government · Management · Questions · Work
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 […]
Tags: Authentic · Clarity · Communication · Vocabulary · Word · Writing
Yeah, But
March 27th, 2025 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips This is a practice I recommend for non-fiction writing—especially writing where the writer is attempting to teach good practices. I have written books and dozens of articles and other things recommending good practices. If you want to accomplish such and such, do this and that and the other thing. And then I […]
Tags: Alternatives · Communication · Concepts · Consulting · Expertise · Knowledge · Writing
Specific and Thinking
March 10th, 2025 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips I find it good to be specific. There are, however, times when being specific limits thinking, and that is not good. Precise, concrete, and specific: three concepts that are good for writing and communication. I try to remember these things that were burned into me in my first semester of college way […]
Tags: Alternatives · Choose · Communication · Improvement · Influence · Thinking
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 […]
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 […]
Tags: Authentic · Brevity · Clarity · Communication · Meaning · Reading · Writing
Inconvenient Facts of Fact Checking
January 27th, 2025 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips A problem with fact checking is that people write so poorly these days we cannot find the facts in seemingly factual statements. Fact checking and the absence or removal of fact checking has been in the news recently. Some society media outlets have removed fact checking and such for something else called […]
Tags: Accountability · Clarity · Communication · Data Science · Error · Science · 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, […]
Tags: Authentic · Communication · Engineering · Word
Story Quilters
December 12th, 2024 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips An age-old method of writing long pieces comes from writing short pieces without a plan or outline. The “outline” comes later. I recently stumbled across a description of writers as Story Quilters. This is not a method of planning or outlining a large piece before writing anything. This is not a method […]
Tags: Alternatives · Communication · Experiment · Ideas · Improvement · Stories · Writing