Working Up

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

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We’ll Do It All Over Again Anyways

February 26th, 2026 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips There is a penalty paid for late changes. It is not just money, it is often in the loss of people. Ideas spawn ideas. That is the nature of ideas and people. Write something, paint something, sing something, create something so that we can gather and think and create more. There comes […]

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Tags: Change · Growth · Health · Ideas · People · Process · Thinking · Writing

AI Coding of Sorts

January 8th, 2026 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Software that writes software is quite helpful. Well, maybe sort of not. MIT jumps into the fray and asks a few dozen programmers if AI that writes software is helpful to people who write software. First, the folks at MIT are smart enough to not base a survey piece on a survey […]

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Tags: Artificial Intelligence · Computing · People · Programming · Tools

It All Comes Down to the Bathroom

January 5th, 2026 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips This current AI boom all comes down to the cost of providing bathrooms for people. Or so it seems. I think we are over thinking the idea of what we think about these chattering bots. Folks, the chatbot is just software running on a computer. Yes, some of that software makes me […]

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Tags: Artificial Intelligence · General Systems Thinking · Money · People · Systems

Merry Christmas

December 25th, 2025 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Today is Christmas Day. Some thoughts. By most arbitrary calendars, today is Christmas Day. Many folks celebrate this as the day that a boy was born to a carpenter and his young wife in a stable in Bethlehem some 2,000 years ago. Many folks celebrate this as a day to exchange gifts. […]

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Tags: Calendar · Family · Health · Life · People · Thank you

Their Point of View

November 3rd, 2025 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips An old book refreshes how to write to someone else. I recently found an old book—old meaning 40 years old. “How to use the power of the printed word” was published in 1985. It comprises a dozen essays from famous folks of that day about writing and reading and such. I am […]

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Tags: Clarity · Communication · Other · People · Writing

But That’s Your Job

September 15th, 2025 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Managing work and leading people isn’t easy. It is, however, the job of managers. I have recently seen several articles about the struggle to bring people back into the office two, three, or even five days a week. And there are requirements to prove that a person actually came to the office, […]

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Tags: Jobs · Leadership · Management · People · Work

AI,Jobs, and Poor Decisions

July 17th, 2025 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Replace people with AI? Cut human jobs? Deciders at companies are deciding these things. It is unfortunate, but deciders at companies have a history of choosing poorly. Replace people and their jobs with AI. Think of the benefits. Save money. Better the bottom line. And remove some of those pesky people whose […]

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Tags: Artificial Intelligence · Change · Choose · Decide · General Systems Thinking · Jobs · Management · People · Systems

Risk and Regulation

June 26th, 2025 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Just because something could go wrong doesn’t mean it will. Perhaps we should let well-meaning try it. Look what is possible with the new AI, robots, machines, chemicals, etc. Yes, but, I have found a way to turn the good possibilities into bad possibilities. I have devised a test that the new […]

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Tags: Adults · Change · Chaos · Experiment · Management · People · Risk

Useful and Helpful Software

May 5th, 2025 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Instead of wiggling around so we can call our efforts “AI,” let’s focus on useful and helpful software. Over a decade ago (yes, that long), I was working with a graduate student on their writing. They had difficulty describing their research to others. Their work was wonderful. They had developed a concept […]

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Tags: Artificial Intelligence · Concepts · People · Technology · User · Value · Writing

Process Is (Often or Usually) This Person

April 21st, 2025 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips “We have a process we use here” usually means one person declared the process and that process will disappear the day the person leaves. I have recently encountered organizations where “process is everything.” I hear boasts of, “WE do it this way all the time.” In my experience of 45 years (yes, […]

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Tags: Choose · Management · People · Process · Thinking