Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips The path to solution is often found in the next (logical) question. Person A: How much will this cost? Person B: I don’t know? Person A: When will you know? Person B: Uh, I don’t know that either? Person A: What will you need to do so that you know? Person B: […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Who wants whom? Who wants someone else’s attention or expertise? People tend to forget the answers. You called me. We called him. These mean something—important. We called him. We want his time, attention, expertise—we want something he has and we don’t have. The same when you call me. You want something of […]

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by Dwayne Phillips When something does not hold up to rational analysis, any excuse or any reason is as good as another. And when no excuse or reason comes to mind now, we will think of something later. A recent xkcd cartoon had a wonderful punchline, “No, for another reason I’ll think of later.” The […]

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by Dwayne Phillips What type of person are you trying to hire? The questions you ask answer this question. Please listen to yourself. Do you want a scientist or a technician or a clerk? Technicians and clerks are easy to find. Ask what tools they’ve used. Finding a scientist or analyst or other thinker … […]

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by Dwayne Phillips “I don’t know” and “I don’t want to say” are close cousins. They also carry much information if we are willing to listen. “I don’t know.” “I can’t say.” “I don’t want to say anything now as I may be divulging too much or incorrect information.” Would you please tell me something? […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Angst rules America this week. We have to do something. What can I change and how? Here is a set of questions to guide me. I write this in early June 2020. We have demonstrations and protests calling for justice and change. Perhaps I am too rational or practical, but I feel […]

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by Dwayne Phillips We seem to have confused ourselves once again. Perhaps simply asking a few questions would quell all the hyperventilating. Is it misinformation or disinformation? I confuse the two. Is either a real word or something a word inventor invented last week because he couldn’t find his dictionary and an appropriate word among […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Sometimes we don’t know something. There is a magic question that moves us from unknowing to knowing. Three words: when will you? Person A: How much will this project cost? Person B: I don’t know. Person A: When will you (know how much this project will cost)? Person B: I don’t know. […]

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by Dwayne Phillips The person asking the questions drives the conversation. Take care when inviting such. “Any questions?” asked many confident, but somewhat ignorant persons. The person asking the questions drives the conversation. “What about the color of the coffee cups?,” asked someone. “Er, but I want to show you our new fill-in-the-blank,” replied the […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Many of our problems already have solutions in waiting. And many of these are effective and inexpensive. Person A: My kid won’t stop chewing on fill-in-the-blank. Person B: Put a drop of fill-in-the-other-blank on it. It will taste bad, and the kid will stop chewing on it. Person A: Oh. … Person […]

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