Working Up

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

Working Up header image 4

Happy New Year

January 1st, 2026 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Let us begin anew. Why not? By some arbitrary counting of days, a.k.a., a calendar, today is the first day of the new year 2026. I suppose that is a good thing for us. Hence, some of us have the new year’s resolutions wherein we resolve to do something. I resolve to […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Calendar · Family · Ideas · Thinking · Writing

The Writer’s Cottage

December 18th, 2025 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips “Just as soon as I build my writer’s cottage, I will write and write and write,” said no one who was actually writing and writing and writing. I am going to write and write and write. But first, I need to: I put the last bullet in the list just for fun. […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Commitment · Decide · Design · Work · Writing

Conceding

November 10th, 2025 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Sometimes you concede or yield to another person’s experience in a situation. Folks seem to hate that. “You have more experience with this type of thing or this type of situation. I yield to your judgement here.” Seems like that is pretty reasonable and wise. Folks seem to hate it. What is […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Agreement · Communication · Competence · Decide · Knowledge · Management · Writing

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 […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Clarity · Communication · Other · People · Writing

Predictable (yikes!)

October 23rd, 2025 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips It isn’t flattering to understand that what I do is quite predictable. Ah these AI chattering bots—they are amazing. Type a question, they call it a prompt, in plain English and out pops answers, sometimes as long as books, in plain English. This is amazing! Well, the software looks at a bunch […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Analysis · Artificial Intelligence · Context · Jobs · Problems · Work · Writing

A Little-Better Prompt

October 20th, 2025 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Here is an attempt to gain value from a chattering bot by wording the prompt a little differently. These chattering bots are everywhere. Some value is gained while some skill is lost. I thought of a better prompt: Find, display the URL, and display a few sentences from three key commentaries regarding […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Alternatives · Artificial Intelligence · Clarity · Communication · Tools · Writing

Abbreviations

October 13th, 2025 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Abbreviations have real purposes. Laziness is not one of them. I see many abbreviations these days. Most are acronyms (TBD, F/U/W, Apr, etc.) that are not expanded. Funny thing, I read in an authoritative book at some point in time that abbreviations were used for: Please note “to save typing when there […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Communication · Context · Energy · Vocabulary · Writing

Success Bringing Failure or at Least Anxiety: Wikipedia

October 9th, 2025 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Sometimes success brings failure. Sometimes success brings anxiety. Note Wikipedia as an example. Back when Wikipedia was young (I am old enough to remember that), it was fun. I would write articles for it. I would put photographs in it to add some depth to some articles. Joy. Experiment. Learn. Then Wikipedia […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Chaos · Communication · Failure · Knowledge · Success · Wikipedia · Writing

I have a Great Idea for a Story…

October 6th, 2025 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Do you have a great idea for a story? If you can write one sentence, there you go. “I have a great idea of a story,” said a a person who has a writer as a friend. The person continues with, “I will tell you the idea, you write the story, and […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Alternatives · Concepts · Ideas · Process · Stories · Writing

Simple Tools, Strong Emotions

September 8th, 2025 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Sometimes the best pieces of writing are still from simple tools and strong emotions. I recently read yet another post from a writer about how in the world you can write while you are traveling or on vacation or something or other that perplexes those who attempt to write. Ten years ago […]

[Read more →]

Tags: Authentic · Communication · Notebook · Remote Work · Work · Writing