Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips A common malady of persons in government is to predict the future of commercial computing. No one seems to learn the folly of this practice. Recently, the Administration announced a few things about the future of computers in education. There is a five-year plan from someone about how they are going to […]

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by Dwayne Phillips There has been much talk recently about reducing the  price of college. Most government actions, however, increase the price. There has been much talk recently about the price (see note) of a college education. This is supposed to be one of the reasons of the Occupy this-street-and-that-street Movement. The Washington Post has […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Government-hired contractors are like grandparents in that they will give you anything you want. Here is a request to government employees to be adults and only ask for things that are practical and will be used. I’ve worked in government acquisition since 1980. For 25+ years, I was on the government side […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Success leads to different things. One disturbing trend is that it leads to suspicion. Google is a rather successful business. The Federal Trade Commission is investigating Google. Why is it that (2) often follows (1)? Google offers a free service to Internet users. Come to our site and search the Internet. I […]

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by Dwayne Phillips In my industry job, I see people making phone calls to obtain answers to questions right now. I never say that in 28 years of government. Here are some thoughts on the practice. I worked in government for 28 years. I have since worked in private industry for two years. A current […]

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by Dwayne Phillips The Federal government is spending billions of dollars on rural broadband. I haven’t seen any results in my rural area of interest. Something is about to happen, but we won’t know if it is practical or affordable until after it happens. I am spending two weeks in Louisiana during the holidays. I […]

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by Dwayne Phillips In government, prestige is proportional to the number of people working for you and the size of your budget. Efficiency is doing the same or more work with fewer people and less budget. Hence, government managers stay away from efficiency. Here is a little-known fact about being a manager in a government […]

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by Dwayne Phillips I was watching Wheel of Fortune recently. It has been years since I saw that program. The contestants had their ten seconds to describe their lives including what they did for a living. One contestant was an Associate Director of Policy That is all they said – no more information. I surmised […]

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by Dwayne Phillips I noticed a recent story on outsourcing. It seems the state of Ohio required work performed on state contracts to be performed  in Ohio by residents of Ohio. Imagine that! Work funded by the taxpayers of Ohio should be done by other taxpayers in Ohio. That seems reasonable to me. It doesn’t seem […]

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by Dwayne Phillips summary I live in the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington D.C. To be more specific, I live in Reston, Virginia – a planned community. This is a good place to live, have a family, find good jobs, good medical care, good entertainment, and so on. Just Google for “Reston 50 best places” […]

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