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.
The Engineer and the Scientist
January 17th, 2013 · No Comments
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Tags: Communication · Education · Writing
Flip Flopping to Extremes
November 29th, 2012 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips I have observed people change their mind from one extreme to another. Is there a name for this behavior? I have observed something about people and I am searching for a name for this behavior. I have observed this across decades, organizations, and areas of endeavor. Here is how it goes: Consultant: […]
Tags: Communication · Culture · General Systems Thinking · Observation · People
Six-Word Stories
November 22nd, 2012 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips I try to write a few six-word stories and learn a few things. I have heard about six-word stories and stories written with only a few words. Okay, enough thinking and waiting; here are a few attempts. The window broke; I jumped out. I woke, he died, me too. The grandchildren visited. […]
Tags: Communication · Thinking · Writing
A Look at Explain Everything
November 15th, 2012 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips I look at a $3 program that enables making video explanations using the iPad. Two days in a row, I bump into a presentation program. This time it is called Explain Everything. It costs $2.99 and runs on the iPad. In the program, you create a few “slides” which become the background […]
Tags: Communication · Technology
A Look at Prezi
November 12th, 2012 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Following the suggestion of several friends, I take a look at Prezi – a new(er) presentation-making application. Several friends hit me recently with, “prezi prezi prezi.” First, I didn’t understand what they were saying. Second, I didn’t know how to spell what they were saying. I can’t mimick their pronunciation in my […]
Tags: Communication · Technology
Excuses, Adults, and Children
November 8th, 2012 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Children use excuses. Adults speak candidly. Children love to use convenient excuses. Adults state what is actually happening. Some people call that being “blunt” or “candid.” I tend to like “candid.” Convenient excuses allow us to “be nice” and talk around situations instead of facing them. Candor, however, exposes the real issue […]
Tags: Choose · Communication · Culture
Lurking in the Hall
October 22nd, 2012 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips In the hall, in the dark corners that cannot be seen by humans, lurks a monster. We, or us, know the monster. It goes by the name “they” or “them.” I suppose this post goes under the category of “something that happens almost daily when ‘we’ talk about our problems.” Someone is […]
Tags: Communication · Health · People · Work