Working Up

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

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Self-Applying Information

March 19th, 2015 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Mankind is searching for that self-applying information so we can life the good life. Perhaps this is a silly fantasy, perhaps it is a dystopian future. Is this the singularity? Is this beyond the singularity? Consider this future. The computer mines information and doesn’t present it to a person, but uses it […]

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Tags: Computing · Ideas · Magic

People-Augmented Applications

February 26th, 2015 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Every now and then we remember that we can allow a person to help another person and that we have the technology to enable that. Be My Eyes is a combined application and service that helps sight-impaired people see things clearly. The impaired person points their smartphone at a thing and is […]

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Tags: Communication · Consulting · Ideas · People

Us as the User Guide

February 16th, 2015 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Don’t look to the provider’s user manual; look to the rest of us. I don’t know why it has taken me so long to write about this topic. Almost everyone already knows this, but for the record… I ran into this situation again this week. I was learning how to use a […]

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Tags: Communication · Consulting · Education · Ideas · Internet · Knowledge · Learning

Kids do the Strangest Things—So Watch

December 29th, 2014 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips People with no experience in a situation do the unthinkable. Often, the unthinkable leads to the impossible, and we want to know about the impossible. Kids do things that are just, well, I struggle to describe them as they are out of the ordinary. Here are a few examples: My oldest son […]

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Tags: General Systems Thinking · Ideas · Knowledge · Learning

The Sweet Spot

December 18th, 2014 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Go to the optimum, then back off a quarter turn on the knob. There you are. One principle of technology and systems in general is not to operate at the extreme. Go to the extreme, but move back just a bit towards the ordinary. Odd things occur at the extremes. This behavior […]

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Tags: Design · General Systems Thinking · Ideas · Systems

Great Ideas and Those Who have Them

October 20th, 2014 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips A great idea is merely a requirement; it is not a design. The thinker of the great idea is important, but so is everyone else involved in the endeavor. Allow me to start with a blunt statement: Steve Jobs did not design the iMac, the iPod, the iPhone, and nothing else that […]

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Tags: Design · Ideas · Requirements

The Napkin (or Envelope)

February 17th, 2014 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips The napkin or envelope is still one of the best tools for the engineer or manager or fill-in-the-blank. I have a(n old-fashioned) laptop computer, a smartphone, and a tablet – and I still write notes on a napkin. Yes, I am old, that is part of the explanation. Yet, there is something […]

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Tags: Design · Estimation · General Systems Thinking · Ideas · Notebook · Thinking · Writing

The Clay Pot Heater

February 6th, 2014 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips I build a heater from two clay flower pots and some tea candles. I saw this on the Internet (how many times have you heard that one) and decided to build my own. It was very cold the week I did this, so that explains why I did it. I saw that […]

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Tags: Fun · Ideas

Must See Family Holiday Apple Ad

December 18th, 2013 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips This Apple ad is deep in several aspects. Here is a precedent for this blog: a video inserted and on top of that it is an advertisement. To the reader, first watch the video, then read my comments. Apple Family Christmas Ad (1) There is the lost teenager in a big family […]

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Tags: Communication · Family · Ideas · People · Technology

We Need More PeGAFOS

October 25th, 2012 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips More often I find myself needing help from a person who is good at figuring out stuff. A PeGAFOS. I have simple needs at work. I need a person good at figuring out stuff. Someone who can consider a puzzling situation and figure out how to work our way out of the […]

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Tags: Excuses · General Systems Thinking · Ideas · People