Working Up

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

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Regulator to the Regulated – the Revolving Door

August 9th, 2010 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Government employees retire and go to work for companies that the government is supposed to regulate and hire and such. This is a revolving door. Is it bad? This story from the past week discusses how Telcos hired retired government employees to help them influence how the FCC (current government employees) regulates […]

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Tags: Employment · Government

A National Broadband Plan

March 18th, 2010 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips The FCC released its National Broadband Plan this week. Sigh, where do I start with this thing? The Front Cover The PDF version that I downloaded from broadband.gov has no date on the cover. Does anyone at the FCC understand configuration management? Silly question. Go to the first line of the Preface: […]

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Tags: Broadband · Communication · Government

A Thought on Health Insurance

March 9th, 2010 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Just a thought on health insurance from an engineer. I see that President Obama doesn’t like what existing health insurance companies are doing with their rates and policies. It seems that the president wants health insurance companies to be non-profit and insure everyone regardless of pre-existing conditions. Health insurance seems to be […]

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Tags: Government · Health · Systems

Restrictions and Freedom

January 18th, 2010 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Written rules and regulations restrict us. They also allow us to forget about some hazards and concentrate freely on the problem at hand. Restrictions can permit freedom. The trick is to learn where the areas of freedom exist and how to use them. A colleague was contrasting the type of people who […]

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Tags: Adapting · Communication · Government

Going Native

November 18th, 2009 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips To provide a system for users, we need to know the users. How can we know the users without being a user and forgetting about the providers? I once worked a couple of years in an American Embassy in Africa. A constant concern at the U.S. Department of State was that its […]

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Tags: Adapting · Culture · Differences · Government · Management

Paper Ballots

November 5th, 2009 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips I voted on Tuesday using a paper ballot where I filled an oval with ink to register my vote. This removed one computer from the voting system. I think that was a good thing. I voted on Tuesday. The voting place near my home in Northern Virginia used paper ballots. This felt […]

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Tags: Design · Government · Privacy · Technology · Voting

Big Brother is Probably NOT Watching

July 23rd, 2009 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips In spite of everything I know about technology, I remain confident that our government is not watching us. There is simply too much incompetence built into the bureaucracy to accomplish such a lofty goal. Consider this blog post a public service announcement: The American government is not watching you. The government isn’t […]

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Tags: Government · Privacy

I Hate “Short” Meetings

July 16th, 2009 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips I dislike most meetings as they are not a time to accomplish work but merely a time to socialize. The worst type of meeting is one that is going to be short. Short meetings waste more time and last longer than any other type of meeting. I dislike the majority of meetings. […]

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Tags: Communication · Government · Meetings · Volunteer

Rules, Exceptions, and Modifiers

June 15th, 2009 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips For writers and those who name products and services: standard items have shorter names than special ones. Attach modifiers to exceptions to the rule, not the rule. Apple recently changed their line of laptop computers. As expected, the newer computers have more performance and a lower price than last year’s models. In […]

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Tags: Culture · Government · Writing

Rules, Regulations, and Cheaters

June 8th, 2009 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips The current administration is running into all sorts of obstacles that it didn’t have during its campaign. There are countless “stupid rules” inside government. These rules were created because at some time in the past someone cheated. Cheaters are the origin of rules and regulations. The Obama administration has been criticized for […]

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Tags: Culture · Government · People · Web 2.0