Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips This is a simple, two-word question. It is fundamental if someone is paying for my time. What is all the fuss about? In the news recently, I find that a new advisor to a new executive asked all the employees to answer the basic question that is the title of this post. […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Want more efficient and more productive government? The solution is simple, but probably won’t be used. Once every now and then, someone comes along and tries to make government more efficient and more productive. Note: this means more efficient and more productive than it is now. This does not mean truly efficient […]

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by Dwayne Phillips The first rule of consulting involves how much improvement a consultant can suggest at a time. Recent news highlights this rule and the peril caused by ignoring it. There is an unwritten rule among smart consultants that you only suggest things that improve a situation by about 10%—no more. If you suggest […]

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by Dwayne Phillips The title is the hallmark of a person in a bureaucracy. Do less; just get by. I have worked in and around government agencies for four decades or more. Gosh, that’s a lot. The title of this little post summarizes the mean of the bell curve in these places. Let’s expand a […]

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by Dwayne Phillips It is only healthcare and security in old age. Not very important, huh? In the recent past, I joined Medicare (yes, I am that old). Let’s see, just go to a government website, fill in the blanks, and viola’. Well, being a technically savvy person, I did that, or tried that. All […]

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by Dwayne Phillips We often have the experts looking up at someone atop the pyramid who simply doesn’t know much of what they are saying. There is supposed to be an expertise pyramid. The lone person atop the pyramid has more expertise than all those below. That is how the person reached the top of […]

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by Dwayne Phillips You think the US government is big and spends lots of money? It is now overshadowed by industry—especially in computing. I was an employee of the US Federal government for 28 years. We did big things in computing that cost big dollars. I once worked in a lab where we had four […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Expediting the fall of the nation state are the hacktivists or activist hackers. We have had mercenaries for many centuries. These were soldiers hired by governments to fight battles for them. Sometimes nations hired the armies of other nations to do this. Sometimes nations hired individuals. And we have had Internet mercenaries. […]

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by Dwayne Phillips I guess we will never stop putting individuals into a group and attributing the actions of some individuals to an entire group. Hence, we discuss “the government.” I have been a citizen of the United States since birth. I was an employee of the United States Federal government for 28 years. The […]

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by Dwayne Phillips We just cannot resist applying the latest technology to something. This is the second in my series on the “Technology Imperative.” (I have learned that there are books and papers with this title elsewhere.) The first part in the “series” was blogged in the year 2010. Oooops, not much continuity, but here […]

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