by Dwayne Phillips Sometimes we skim the surface to gather an overview. Sometimes we dive in deep to discover the details. I like an overview. I like the nitty gritty details. Which do we like? On which day? For me, the overview is easier. I learn the general idea. I tell people that “all I […]
Skimming and Diving
December 28th, 2020 · No Comments
Tags: Concepts · Energy · Fear · Ideas · Technology
Fundamentals and Reviewing
September 10th, 2020 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips We disdain the review of fundamentals. We disdain fundamentals. We disdain review. I forget why. Why do we hate it when someone says, “Let’s go back to fundamentals.” Like, “Let’s review some basics of grammar and punctuation.” Why do we struggle to say, “Let’s review…anything.” I forget why. Oh, wait. That’s it. […]
Tags: Concepts · Patience · Remember
Name Dropping and Other Follies of (Mis)Communicating
August 31st, 2020 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Please talk concepts, name product names. There used to be comedy routines back in the 1970s (yes, I am that old) that made fun of daytime soap operas. (For you younger folks, don’t worry, you didn’t miss anything as almost everything on television these days is a soap opera.) Anyways, the comedians […]
Tags: Communication · Concepts
Behold the Wonder of the Lip (protruding edge)
May 4th, 2020 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips There are persons and things that we don’t notice much, but who keep everything working and everyone smiling. Please notice and appreciate. lip: noun, the edge of a hollow container or an opening. “drawing her finger around the lip of the cup” Behold the wonder of the lip, that protruding edge that […]
Tags: Analysis · Concepts · General Systems Thinking · Humility · Listening · Notice
Software “Stacks”: A Bad Idea
March 19th, 2020 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips I don’t like the metaphor of the software “stack,” never have. Here is one explanation why. I wrote some software on a recent Saturday afternoon. I used Google’s Colaboratory, Jupyter Notebooks, Python, String libraries, Regular Expressions, HTML, and a few other things. I think folks call that a “software stack” these days. […]
Tags: Concepts · Software · Technology
Logarithms and Other Old but New Concepts
February 20th, 2020 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Logarithms help represent large and complex items with smaller and simpler concepts. We forget this at our peril. I used a slide rule in years gone past. It functions on logarithms. These take large numbers and represent them with small numbers. It really is a remarkable concept. The logarithm concept has been […]
Tags: Concepts · Data Science · Estimation · General Systems Thinking
Scientists or Technicians?
October 24th, 2019 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips It can be a sobering question, but one that we should address. Person A: Do you want to hire a scientist or a technician? Person B: A scientist, of course. Person A: But the job description lists a lot of tools, software and otherwise. Person B: Yes, of course. The person needs […]
Tags: Concepts · Employment · Jobs · Science · Technology · Tools
Cost, Schedule, Performance
October 17th, 2019 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips There are other words, but there are three basic things to consider in projects and project management, so let’s review these basics. Time goes on. We have new methods and methodologies (let’s toss in a couple of extra syllables to trick in unknowing into thinking that we are thinking), but there are […]
Tags: Calendar · Concepts · Management · Risk · Scope
A Tangled Web
June 3rd, 2019 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Present and past weave together. New tools or old techniques? I am a bit slow on the uptake of “new” things from time to time. This past week or so I stumbled across this thing called Jupyter. It is a type of “notebook.” Some call it yet another implementation of the “notebook” […]
Tags: Computing · Concepts · Programming
Behold the Marvel of the Crease
February 25th, 2019 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips No new materials. A simple pressing. Structure appears. Value from almost nothing. This is a primary task of a manager (and the rest of us). Fold something. Press the fold. It becomes a crease. And now there is a structure that has strength and increased utility. And how did that happen? A […]
Tags: Analysis · Change · Concepts · Improvement · Management