Working Up

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

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The Clipboard and the Pencil…and the Hurricane

November 1st, 2021 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Unfortunate events provide yet another great reason to use a clipboard and a pencil. My records indicate that this is the fourth blog post I have written about the clipboard and the pencil. The gist is that these old, simple tools are still quite valuable. Hence, we might reconsider a few other […]

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Tags: Adapting · Emergency · Internet · Learning · Notebook · Simple · Technology · Tools

The Dark Ages at a Personal Level

October 21st, 2021 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips There are tools that help me remember the things I need to remember. They prevent a fall into the Dark Ages. Define Dark Ages: it isn’t that we forget how to do something, it is that we forget than we once could do that. Personal Dark Ages: it isn’t that I can’t […]

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Tags: Competence · Information · Journal · Process · Remember · Tools

The Wonder of Carbon Paper

July 12th, 2021 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Today’s copy machines make and store digital copies that go somewhere to someone. Carbon paper still makes a copy for safekeeping that goes to only those I designate. Copiers—”xerox machines” we used to call them—are now digital. When you make a copy, a there is a digital record of the original somewhere. Hence, […]

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Tags: Copyright · Intellectual Property · Technology · Tools · Writing

The Age of Algorithms (a convenient excuse)

July 5th, 2021 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Sorry folks, “the algorithm found the answer that I used” is just another excuse. We choose what to do one way or another. “The computer made me do it!” Well, actually it was the algorithm underlying the software that runs on the computer. Hmmm. Who built the computer? Who created the algorithm? […]

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Tags: Alternatives · Choose · Decide · Design · Excuses · Tools

Some Essentials for Writers II

December 10th, 2020 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips At last, I continue a series of essentials for writers. The first Some Essentials for Writers was posted December 10th, 2012. I actually promised that I would write some more parts to that post. Well, 7 1/2 years later, here we go. I have been working recently with things called Jekyll, Markdown, […]

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Tags: Tools · Writing

…Unless You Have a Tool

October 19th, 2020 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips There are many tasks that are difficult and require fine motor control and dexterity. They are darn near impossible—unless you have a tool. A few years ago, we were building a system that had a sensor. The sensor would sense the state of an other system and relay signals to a processor. […]

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Tags: Alternatives · General Systems Thinking · Systems · Tools

WDYWT?

October 15th, 2020 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips I find a little trick that helps me write something “for the record” each day. I write. I tell myself that every day. Most days that is true. Most days I will write something of some substance or “for the record.” I have worked from home for the past six months (almost […]

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Tags: Adapting · Remote Work · Systems · Tools · Visibility · Writing

Hire a Technician (Clerk) or a Scientist

July 27th, 2020 · No Comments

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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Tags: Jobs · Questions · Science · Technology · Tools

The Democratization of This or That Technology

June 29th, 2020 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Someone please give me a magic wand so that I won’t have to talk to those ogres. I currently work in what some people call “data science” and others call “artificial intelligence and machine learning.” Each day I read something about the “democratization of data science” and the “democratization of artificial intelligence […]

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Tags: People · Technology · Tools

The Price of Tools and the Place of Work

December 16th, 2019 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Once again, the price of tools has fallen dramatically. This has shifted the place of work, and we are struggling to adapt. A few weeks ago, I went to a seminar where I connected a $100 gadget from Nvidia to a four-year-old $1,000 portable computer from Apple, used a bunch of $0 […]

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Tags: Agility · Alternatives · Change · Tools · Trust · Work