Working Up

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

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Will the Federal Government Listen to the Google Guy?

September 25th, 2014 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Much has been made of the Google guy in Washington running the US Digital Service. The USDS is not needed and won’t succeed. There is a lot of splash in the regular media these days about the US Digital Service. Our government has recruited stars from Silicon Valley, brought them to the […]

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Tags: Change · Government

Government Documents – Shorter Please

November 25th, 2013 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips When it comes to government documents, shorter is better almost all the time. I used to write government documents. I still read government documents. Such is the life of someone who worked for the government, retired, and went to work for companies that compete for government contracts. Here is it, something regarding […]

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Tags: Government · Writing

The Veto in Restuarants and Government Offices

November 11th, 2013 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips A veto is where one person can say NO, and that over rules a multitude of YESs. Look around and notice the prevalence of the veto. I was in a fast food restaurant early on a recent Saturday morning (old people like me tend to do those things). Three teens were sitting […]

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Tags: Government · Judgment · Management · People

The Age of the Decider

November 4th, 2013 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips To understand a non-sensical decision, consider the age of the person deciding. It was the early 1990s (yes, I am that old), we were using Cray and other supercomputers (government program, so we had several), and we were interviewing your programmers. They all gasped to learn that we were programming in FORTRAN […]

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Tags: Choose · Geography · Government

The Government’s Customer

October 31st, 2013 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Government agencies often build systems with considering other government agencies, not taxpayers, as the customer. I hate to keep writing about healthcare.gov, but the lessons are so obvious. I have to wonder who is in charge and what they are thinking. It was the early 1990s, and the management fad of the […]

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Tags: Government · People

Big Government Programs (not)

October 28th, 2013 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Don’t try big government programs. The government doesn’t have the expertise. There have been lots of problems with the new government health care site. What surprises me is that some people are surprised. How can you not build a web site that registers users and takes orders? Amazon and just about everyone […]

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Tags: Culture · Government · Technology

Labeling People

July 18th, 2013 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips A  practice in government was labeling people. It was a lazy but oft-used practice. Happenstance was the main source of labels. I worked in government 28 years. Managers were often overwhelmed with things to do. Much of the “work” was self-created, but that is another story for another time. Anyways, one result […]

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Tags: Employment · Government · Management · Observation

Competition and Creativity

July 11th, 2013 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Another age-old motivation technique that should probably go away. It was 30 years ago (yes, I am that old). The big boss of the organization was excited. A competing organization was trying to build a new product just like we were trying to build. By the way, we were both government organizations […]

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Tags: Government · Management · Work

Know What the Other Person Knows

June 27th, 2013 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips When confronted with non-sensical information, first ask to know what the other person knows. This first happened to me over 20 years ago. I was sitting in a medical office at a government agency. A doctor was reading my file and talking to me about my health. He made a few comments […]

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Tags: Communication · Government

Government Delay = Wasted Taxes

May 6th, 2013 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips I explain how any government delay leads to wasted taxpayer money. No connection between the two items? Let’s walk through this. Company A contracts with the government. Which government doesn’t matter – national, state, local – as they all exist on taxpayers’ money. Company A has these smart, dedicated employees who work […]

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Tags: Employment · Government