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 […]
Regulator to the Regulated – the Revolving Door
August 9th, 2010 · No Comments
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: […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
Tags: Culture · Government · People · Web 2.0