Working Up

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

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People can be such a Nuisance

March 11th, 2019 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Things, even food, are much easier to carry than people. What does that say about us? Uber and others have discovered that it is far more profitable to carry meals than to carry the consumers of meals. People can be such a nuisance. We want the car to have the right odor, […]

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Tags: Communication · People

Someone has to Type the Words

February 14th, 2019 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips All things don’t happen automatically by automaton. Some special person does the work. Someone has to type the words Someone has to stand in front of the classroom Someone has to carry champagne to the table Someone has to crack the eggs As much as we wish it to be different in […]

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Tags: People · Work

Pleasant and Productive (or Profitable)

December 3rd, 2018 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Simple desires for the workplace. Years ago, a wise old man once told me, “The workplace should be pleasant and profitable.” He worked in a commercial business. No profits, no business, no jobs. Profits were necessary. Also necessary, in his experience, was that the workplace be pleasant. If it wasn’t pleasant, people […]

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Tags: Communication · Expectations · Government · People · Work

Favor of the Rich

October 11th, 2018 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Times change, but not all things. We still want to be friends with the rich. I guess things don’t change much with us through the centuries. We want to be friends with the rich. See, e.g., all the places that want Amazon to come and sit for a while. The richest person […]

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Tags: Customer · People

Please Hire Some Editors

August 9th, 2018 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Please hire some editors in your business. They are need in many more ways than most persons expect. This is a post about editors—the human variety who read and change what others write. First, we have editors who collect writings from a variety of persons and combine them into one writing. Their […]

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Tags: Management · People · Writing

Who Invented the Stick?

July 9th, 2018 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Some persons use items to abuse others. This has been occurring since, well since a long time. Is there an answer? I found this to be an interesting article on tech’s guilt in how some persons abuse other persons. Should all Microsoft employees feel guilty because the name-your-worst-bad-person uses Word and Outlook? […]

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Tags: People · Problems

Persons and Messages

July 2nd, 2018 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips The message to a person should be the same as the message about a person. What I say to a person is the same as what I say about a person. At least it should be. In other words, I say the same thing when the person is in the room as […]

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Tags: Communication · Management · People

Which People are Important to Me?

May 14th, 2018 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips “Are you a people person?” is one of the most moronic questions ever asked. What is more important to me, people or projects? What is more important to me, people or products? People or things? These are silly questions. If a building is on fire, and I can only save a product […]

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Tags: People · Questions

We Know It’s Broken, but…

December 7th, 2017 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips For some reason (and we have a lot of these reasons), we just let things go when we know better. Yes, that thing doesn’t work right, but you know, we just don’t fix it because… I don’t like fixing things It is someone else’s problem, they broke it or they installed it […]

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Tags: Excuses · Management · People

Change and the Doorway

October 19th, 2017 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips The arrival and departure of persons has a major influence on who we are and what we do. Every person who walks in the door changes the organization. The same is true for every person who walks out the door—they change the organization. Every entering and departing person changes who we are […]

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Tags: Change · People