Working Up

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

Working Up header image 4

Take a Nap (you have my permission)

January 4th, 2018 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Go ahead; we all know it is the best thing to do. Take a nap. A man at work struggling to read something and stay awake. Something was happening physically, low blood sugar or something like a gizzard malfunction. Sleep kept trying to drop a black hood over his head. He fought […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Nap · Rest · Work

The One-Person Silo

November 30th, 2017 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips We all like to have something we can call our own. We like to work on something and say, “I did that!” We have to decide if one of us is smarter than all of us. In Agile Development, somehow the team meets and decides on a new feature or fix for […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Adults · Respect · Synergy · Trust · Work

If you don’t know where you are going, any road will do

August 31st, 2017 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips This paraphrase from Through the Looking Class continues to reign in systems development. The title of this post is a famous paraphrase from the classic Through the Looking Glass. I live it most days. The conversation goes something like this: Me: The system won’t do such-and-such. Builder: Of course not. It wasn’t […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Adults · Agility · Commitment · Communication · Scope · Systems · Work

How did You Write that Book?

July 20th, 2017 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips The basic steps I have used to writing a professional, non-fiction book and having it published. I have written about half-a-dozen professional non-fiction books. The counting is a bit fuzzy when you include a second edition or two here and there. These were published by the IEEE and other publishers of such […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Work · Writing

Visa, Immigration, Jobs, Salaries

June 22nd, 2017 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Yes, immigration fuels the economy. I love it when skilled persons enter the US. The current situation, however, isn’t so lovely. The H-1B visa battle continues. Let’s step back to my naive childhood. America wants skilled persons to come here and improve much of this nation in many ways. We grant entrance […]

[Read more →]

Tags: America · Immigration · Jobs · Work

The Gig Economy, Odd Jobs with a Cool Name

May 25th, 2017 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Nothing new under the sun. The gig economy meandors, and some persons get by. I’ve been mulling this post for a while. As a coincidence, The New Yorker is running a long piece on it. When I was in high school, way back in the last century, in rural Louisiana, I knew […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Agility · Work

Political Polarization and being Just Plain Lazy

May 1st, 2017 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips I delve into politics or politicians and submit an ugly theory about polarization in American politics. American politics seem to be polarized more than in the last few generations. There are plenty of explanations and denials (see a recent New York Times story as an example). One explanation that makes a lot […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Adults · Work

Ready, Fire, Aim—or something like that

April 24th, 2017 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Sometimes we have to stop, go back to basics, and learn what we are trying to do before we try to do it. Stupid, right? How in the world could I run off and start working before knowing what it is I am supposed to do? Trust. Someone I trusted told me […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Analysis · Clarity · Work

The Condescending Robot (Employer)

April 10th, 2017 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips A new high or low in robots in the warehouse. I find this one fascinating. This warehouse “robot” walks a human to the right spot in the cavern of products. The touchscreen shows the human what product to load in the bin. Hence, the robot knows where the product is and how […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Adults · Technology · Work

Writing and Googling

March 30th, 2017 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Writers (and everyone else): use the research resources that are available. And extend them. Mark this one under the non-existent tag of #a-writing-basic-that-I-feel-compelled-to-write-about-just-for-the-record or something like that. Writers: Google stuff before you write. Google stuff while you are writing. Google stuff after you have finished writing. This is not a paid commercial […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Research · Work · Writing