Working Up

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

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Writing in Tough Times (Let’s Stop Kidding Ourselves)

April 9th, 2020 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Writing is tough on any day. Things now are tough for some of us in some ways on some days. Writing is still tough and still possible. Let’s stop kidding ourselves. I have read a dozen blog posts about “writing in tough times.” These are tough times, right? Well, in some ways […]

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Tags: Excuses · Writing

Happening and Reasoning

November 25th, 2019 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Everything happens for a reason (or two) or perhaps things happen and we create reasons to explain them. Funny how we often work backwards. Something happens and we proclaim, “I knew it would happen. We had this and that and they are reasons for what happened.” Few say these reasons before the […]

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Tags: Estimation · Excuses · Failure · Reaction · Review

Deep Fake Prevention #2

November 7th, 2019 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Technology enables us to fake photos and videos. We can make anyone appear to say and do anything. Preventing such is quite simple. A few months back, I wrote about preventing harm from deep fake videos. That advice was to live in such a way that I could say, “You know me. […]

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Tags: Excuses · Expectations · Fun

Thank You for Pointing Out My Mistake(s)

August 30th, 2018 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips It is such a good favor when someone shows me one of my mistakes. I recently taught a class where the group walked through a series of instructions I had written. A stroke of brilliance—I rarely claim that, but in this case I do—came to me. I had a half dozen one-dollar […]

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Tags: Error · Excuses · Failure

Here is How We Will Make this Right

June 21st, 2018 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Customers don’t want long—or any—explanations. Simply tell the customer how we will make the situation right. Another month, another bad experience with customer service. The details are not important. I paid for a service, the provider made a mess of things, I heard dozens of reasons why the situation went wrong. I […]

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Tags: Accountability · Customer · Excuses · Problems

Everyone but Us

January 14th, 2018 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Old adage, but still true. Something about pointing a finger at someone else means you have three fingers pointing at myself. The News Channel (fill in with your favorite news channel that you dislike) reports that corporations are greedy and only want more money. Of course, The News Channel is itself a […]

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Tags: Excuses · Work

We Know It’s Broken, but…

December 7th, 2017 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips For some reason (and we have a lot of these reasons), we just let things go when we know better. Yes, that thing doesn’t work right, but you know, we just don’t fix it because… I don’t like fixing things It is someone else’s problem, they broke it or they installed it […]

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Tags: Excuses · Management · People

Thank You Fake News and Social Media, We Needed a New Excuse

October 26th, 2017 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Why disdain fake news and social media? Let’s embrace it for what it gives us—a new excuse. I recently learned that fake news on social media controls the world. All money flows in a direction it flows because it is directed by fake news. All elections are won by fake news purveyors. […]

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Tags: Communication · Excuses

The Present and the Future

March 16th, 2017 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Here we are in the present. We can decide how we create the future. Things are the way they are because they got that way. Let’s try that again…The present is a natural result of all past circumstances. There are people, capabilities, technology, budget, outside forces, and a host of other things […]

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Tags: Choose · Design · Excuses · Expectations

Please Don’t Take Away My Excuses – part 2 I’ll Have to be Responsible

March 9th, 2017 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Excuses are great. As long as I have plenty of excuses, I don’t have to take responsibility for my life. I have plenty of excuses why my life isn’t the way it is supposed to be. I have plenty of excuses why my job isn’t what it is supposed to be. Please […]

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Tags: Excuses · Expectations · Failure