Working Up

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

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The Simplest Thing

June 12th, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips New problem? Need a new solution. First, try the simplest thing. It happened again at work the other day. We have a new problem (new day, new problem). We need a new solution. What will we do? Hmmm, there are so many options. Each option with its good things and bad things […]

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Tags: General Systems Thinking · Leadership · Problems · Process · Solutions · Thinking

Everybody Is Chattering (not)

May 25th, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Let’s curb our enthusiasm about these chatbots and large language models multiplying productivity and costing jobs. I just saw another article about how ChatGPT and the like are being used in yet another field of endeavor with giant gains in productivity. We won’t need half the people we have in the office […]

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Tags: Artificial Intelligence · Breathe · Change · Chaos · Fear · General Systems Thinking · Knowledge · Learning

Symbolic AI, Machine Learning, and Cows

May 18th, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips The old ways of doing AI are still better than some of the new ways in some cases. The answer, of course, is to combine the best of all to do something better. Feed the following into a chatbot: “The cow jumped” The chatbot will finish with “over the moon.” That is […]

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Tags: Artificial Intelligence · General Systems Thinking · Knowledge · Language · Learning · Machine Learning · Word

In Praise of the Table

May 11th, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips In which I consider what is the ultimate purchase for the home, family, and home business: the table. Consider the humble flat horizontal surface. Narrow the consideration to the kitchen table with four chairs. A quick search shows plenty of choices from $100 on up. Let’s settle for $150. A family eats […]

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Tags: Adults · Authentic · Concepts · Conversation · Economics · Family · General Systems Thinking

Portable and Permanent Possessions

March 27th, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips In which I consider one of the more quotable aspects of knowledge. My dad used to tell me that knowledge was the one thing no one could take away from you. A search of the world’s knowledge, a.k.a., Google it for yourself, shows that many famous people are the origin of this […]

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Tags: Education · Family · General Systems Thinking · Knowledge · Learning

Politics and the English Language

January 23rd, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips For what it is worth, and I think it is worth much, read or review Orwell’s “Politics and the English Language.” I didn’t take many English courses in college (just one). While happy, at the time, to skip needless courses, I sometimes regret what I could have learned. Then again, I was […]

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Tags: Communication · General Systems Thinking · Honesty · Thinking · Writing

The Metaphor and Thinking

January 19th, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Old metaphors indicate many problems. One result, however, is that they prevent thought. Thinking is a pretty good practice, and I discourage anything that reduces it. The old metaphor should be avoided. George Orwell wrote about this in his essay on Politics and the English Language. Orwell wrote it much better than […]

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Tags: Communication · General Systems Thinking · Problems · Solutions · Thinking · Writing

One Thing at a Time

January 12th, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips How to you accomplish a big task? One thing at a time. Sorry, I wish there were magic here, but I have yet to see any of that. I recently removed 6,000 pounds of items from a home. Given each item weighed half a pound on average, that is … a whole […]

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Tags: Concepts · General Systems Thinking · Lifecycle · Problems · Process · Solutions

Problems to Solve

January 5th, 2023 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips What problems do we want to solve? The simpler are usually the more difficult and more important. “World hunger,” has been the answer for beauty queens and scholars my entire life. That was the answer to the problem we should solve. The trouble is, world hunger was solved a hundred years ago. […]

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Tags: General Systems Thinking · Problems · Solutions · Teaching

Deciding

December 29th, 2022 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips One of the fundamentals in the engineering of systems and architecture is a “D” word that many loathe in our 21st century. “Let’s hold off on this until we have to decide,” said a hopeful inhabitant of a post-modern universe. Yes, there are things that we don’t have to decide until we […]

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Tags: Choose · Decide · Engineering · General Systems Thinking · Systems