Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips Once you refer to some person as “boss” and other persons as “employees,” all is lost. I saw this post a few days back about the boss’ greatest fear. They don’t want the employees to catch them on video. There might be something in the video that can harm them. Let’s back […]

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by Dwayne Phillips The number of people on a project influences the management practices that will succeed. An easy-to-remember heuristic is the breakpoints at 3 to the n power. Yes, that is mutters with a “u.” As the size of a team on a project increases, so does the muttering. This implies that what works […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Micro-Management has been given a bad name. What is bad is nit-picking management. Used properly, micro-management is a good practice. Micro-management is a good management practice. There, now fight the urge to stop reading while I explain. Here is what micro-management is about: A senior manager bores down through several levels of […]

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by Dwayne Phillips There are times when a customer calls for a technical solution to one of their problems. They may, however, have a management problem instead. I work for a technology company. When our customers call, we deliver technical solutions to their problems. Sometimes, however, the customer comes with a fuzzy problem. We investigate […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Same old story – it is not what you know, but who you know that counts. People can’t measure performance. Let me restate that one – people don’t want to measure performance. That is too much work. Instead, people go to their feelings. They ask, “When I consider Dwayne’s performance, do I […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Contemplative writing is a valuable practice. It is far more valuable and far less used than shallow meetings. In my 28 years working for the government, I attended countless meetings where much of nothing was discussed. I avoided far more if these meetings than I attended. Meetings are a characteristic of government […]

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by Dwayne Phillips People often enter business relationships without first answering one question: If I fire you, will that affect our personal relationship? Business relationships are about business. They involve contracts and agreements: You will do this and I will do that. This is pretty simple when you consider these terms. This is pretty complicated […]

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by Dwayne Phillips The foundation of risk management is asking, “What could possibly go wrong?” Some people, however, shrug when asked while others make a list of a million things. A recent chat: Person A: What do you know about risk management? Me: A “risk” is a problem that hasn’t occurred yet. Person A: What […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Good thoughts, hard work, a good team – they are great, but don’t guarantee success in projects. I find yet another television show that illustrates the need for thought and planning. I have found another television show that I love to hate to watch. It is Alaska Gold Rush on the Discovery […]

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by Dwayne Phillips As a manager, when an employee provides short, pleasing answers sound all the alarms you have. Ask more questions until you pull usable information from the employee. Manager: How are things going? Employee: Fine, okay. Manager: (thinks to herself) Great! I’ve communicated with the employee, and we are good. Gosh. How many […]

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