Working Up

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

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Half of What You See, None of What You Hear

December 2nd, 2024 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips This is an old saying told to me many, many years ago. It is true today more than ever. Recent “reports” tell me that some Federal agencies are arresting folks who are merely trying to help their neighbors. And I hear of nice folks pointing guns at other Americans who are temporary […]

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Tags: Choose · Clarity · Expectations · General Systems Thinking · Information · Learning · Listening

My Book and Wikipedia

November 28th, 2024 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Was my book or speech or seminar replaced by Wikipedia and ChatGPT? Time for me to learn. Was my book replaced by Wikipedia, i.e., each section of my book can be read or the reader can just go read a few Wikipedia pages? Is my book redundant to Wikipedia? The same can […]

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Tags: Artificial Intelligence · Communication · Information · Knowledge · Learning · Teaching · Wikipedia · Writing

Listen to Understand vs Listen to Reply

November 25th, 2024 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips An old adage that still applies today as long as we apply it wisely. Some wise and famous person stated the title of this post long ago, I think. Still, it bears repeating in one variation or another. I am here to tell you something. What I have to say is important. […]

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Tags: Communication · Learning · Listening · Talk

Show This to the Old Person

November 18th, 2024 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips When confronting something that looks odd, show it to an old person. They may have seen this before and can explain it. Many years ago, a programmer saw an odd way to demodulate amplitude modulation. The method didn’t resemble any of the equations or diagrams regarding amplitude modulation (AM, or that radio […]

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Tags: Artificial Intelligence · Clarity · Consulting · Expertise · General Systems Thinking · History · Knowledge · Leadership · Learning

Passing the System Test

November 14th, 2024 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Did the system we are building pass the test? Wrong question. Let’s consider the purpose of testing. We have been testing the system we are building. The first question is almost always, “Did the system pass the test?” Wrong question. What these anxious folks want to know is, “Will the system do […]

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Tags: General Systems Thinking · Information · Learning · Questions · Systems · Testing

Society Media

November 11th, 2024 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Forget the term “social media.” We are fussing about society media in which everyone in society has a tall soapbox on which to stand and shout. And many of us don’t like that. It’s not social media—it is Society Media, in which everyone can now shout as loud as Walter Cronkite used […]

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Tags: Communication · Information · Learning · Listening · Respect · Teaching · Writing

I Will Do Less Than I Can

October 24th, 2024 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips The title is the hallmark of a person in a bureaucracy. Do less; just get by. I have worked in and around government agencies for four decades or more. Gosh, that’s a lot. The title of this little post summarizes the mean of the bell curve in these places. Let’s expand a […]

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Tags: Commitment · Conversation · Excuses · Government · Leadership · Learning · Systems

When the Audience Knows More

October 10th, 2024 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Sometimes, the audience knows more than the designation teacher or expert. Great. There is much good that can come from this. Let’s discuss teaching adults or at least a situation where someone says you are the teacher and everyone else in the room is an adult. It is common for one of […]

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Tags: Adults · Authentic · Conversation · Honesty · Learning · Teaching

I’m Writing, I Don’t Know if I’m Any Good at It

October 3rd, 2024 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Maybe one day I will know what “any good at it” means when applied to writing. I heard the title used as a line in a movie recently. Yet another young, earnest person was confessing to an acquaintance about how they spent their idle time. They wrote. They were trying to write […]

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Tags: Appearances · Concepts · Growth · Learning · Money · Success · Writing

Learn Now or Later

September 26th, 2024 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips We often have the choice of learning now or later. Often we don’t have the time to learn now, so we put it off until it really hurts. Gosh, we are in a hurry so much of the time. We just can’t pause to think, reflect, and learn at this moment. Some […]

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Tags: Agility · Analysis · Decide · Learning