Working Up

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

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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

Go to Their Place

April 11th, 2013 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips To work with other persons, establish trust. One technique is to go to their place and show a genuine interest in them as a person. Someone asked me recently about how I would influence other people in an inter-department project. My reply was: establish trust Of course, the next question was, “How?” […]

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Tags: Communication · People · Work

Don’t Have It? Don’t Mention It

April 8th, 2013 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips A review of remedial communication: if you don’t have the explanation and data about something, don’t mention it. I am embarrassed to write about this, but I feel compelled as I see mature people tripping over this often. Way back in high school (it was the 1970s), us young, impressionable, and not-so-bright […]

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Tags: Communication

The “Oh Yeah?” Writing Test

March 21st, 2013 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips When writing management tips, I always try to apply the “Oh Yeah?” test. I sometimes write about management and how to manage better. One things I try to apply at the end of such writing is the “Oh Yeah?” test. In applying this test, I ask myself something like, Oh yeah? Really, […]

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Tags: Communication · Management · Writing

The Core Problem of Gun Control Legislation

February 21st, 2013 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips People on differing sides of the gun control issue are separated by knowledge. Without education, the sides will probably never come together. Gun control legislation is a hot topic in America today. It is almost impossible to have a rational discussion of the issue. The core problem is: knowledge This comes about […]

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Tags: Communication · Culture

No Thank You vice the Red X

February 14th, 2013 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips How clever  – pop up windows have replaced the red x with “no thank you.” I’ve noticed this the last week or so. Those annoying pop up windows – instead of clicking on the red X in the upper right corner, they have a “no thank you” box at the bottom of […]

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Tags: Communication

The Engineer and the Scientist

January 17th, 2013 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips One of my sons is an engineer. Another son is a scientist. Engineer: We’ll do this. Scientist: That’s not how it really works. Engineer: We’ll make it work.

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Tags: Communication · Culture

Percent Change – A Review Tutorial

January 7th, 2013 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips This may be a waste of time, but I review how to calculate the percent change. I feel silly about this post. I am going to show how to calculate the percent change in numbers. I learned this when I was 12 or 10 or something in school math. A look at […]

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Tags: Communication · Education · Government · Money

A Simple Writing Formula

December 24th, 2012 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips When writing to convey information, I use a formula that is easy for me to remember and works for me. The formula is: what, so what, now what. Someone gave me this formula in a meeting years ago. The meeting had nothing to do with writing, but had something to do with […]

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Tags: Communication · Writing

Precise, Concrete, and Specific

December 13th, 2012 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Those three nouns in the post title continue to come to mind lo these many years since freshman English Composition. It was the summer of 1976 – yes, the Bicentennial summer. I was one month out of high school and taking freshman English composition. Dr. Gray taught the class. Two things stand […]

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Tags: Communication · Education · Writing