Quantcast
Channel: Work – Working Up
Browsing all 134 articles
Browse latest View live

But That’s Your Job

by Dwayne Phillips Further evidence that people tend to do only what they want to do while at work. Years ago, one of the guys in our office went missing. He was safe and sound, but we didn’t know it...

View Article



A Sense (and Source) of Urgency

by Dwayne Phillips A sense of urgency is obvious as people think, work, and move faster than when there is no such sense. There is a source of urgency that managers can find to help instill the sense....

View Article

Eliminate Vice Solve the Problem

by Dwayne Phillips I am a problem solver. Sometimes, however, solving a problem is the worst thing to do. This story made the rounds recently about how our military is experimenting with small jolts of...

View Article

The Peter Principle

by Dwayne Phillips I read a classic management text. It is as true today as it was in 1969. When in college in the mid-1970s (yes, I am that old), an English professor spoke about the Peter Principle....

View Article

How to Concentrate All Day

by Dwayne Phillips Focusing for a long period of time is contradictory, but it is possible. Graduate school in 1983 (yes, I am that old): I had to study a text on a new concept called object-oriented...

View Article


Jobs and Robots and All That

by Dwayne Phillips Automation is replacing human jobs. Sorry. That is bad news for people who want to work, and there is no way around it. Such is the nature of today’s new technologies. In recent...

View Article

The Sharing Economy: A Tale of Three Sons

by Dwayne Phillips I have three adult sons. They are a study in delving into the sharing economy. I have three adult sons. One has a traditional paid job. He leaves his home five mornings a week,...

View Article

Why Pay a Systems Engineer?

by Dwayne Phillips When you consider it, systems engineers do something that everyone already does. Right? Systems Engineers do a simple task: they ensure that all customer requirements are built,...

View Article


Losing Their Way

by Dwayne Phillips Sometimes, projects and the people working on them lose their way. This is an expression I heard many times over the years. They’ve lost their way. I didn’t understand the...

View Article


At Least I Accomplished Something

by Dwayne Phillips It is easy to let other people control your day and make it a big waste of time. Here is a story, a true story. I was at work. Later in the day I was to brief a roomful of important...

View Article

Sentences and Paragraphs

by Dwayne Phillips I learn what a technical writer does (now that I are one). I have been working in a job titled “technical writer” for about a month now. I wasn’t sure what that job title meant or...

View Article

Software Developers

by Dwayne Phillips This is yet another job title that is constantly misused by recruiters. Software Developer: another stupid job title that reveals the ignorance of those trying to hire people. Yes, I...

View Article

Job Title: Stupid Hunter

by Dwayne Phillips I’m not sure what the job title is, but every organization needs a person whose job it is to find the stupid that is hindering everyone. I have seen this every place I have worked....

View Article


Is Work the Real Activity?

by Dwayne Phillips What is the real activity, the real attraction at work? They sell food at McDonald’s and Pizza Hut. Is food, however, the real point of the place? They sell coffee at Starbucks, but...

View Article

A Job for One

by Dwayne Phillips Sometimes we should assign one person. We already know that, so why don’t we do it? There is some old cliche about too many cooks in the kitchen or too many cooks stirring the pot or...

View Article


Please Don’t Ask Me to do My Job

by Dwayne Phillips Many on-the-job frustrations come when we try to do our job. The title and summary of this blog post may not make any sense. I have, however, heard much grumbling on the job when...

View Article

Wasting Time and Wasting Time

by Dwayne Phillips Sometimes the best use of time is wasting it and the most wasteful use of time is working hard. Here is a story I heard many years ago: Story Two computer programmers came to work....

View Article


Don’t Try So Hard

by Dwayne Phillips One of the worst things to do in many situations is to try really, really hard. One of the best pieces of advice I received from author and consultant Jerry Weinberg is: Don’t try so...

View Article

Talk to Everyone, Everyday

by Dwayne Phillips This is fundamental project manager advice. Avoid at your peril. I’ve managed a lot of technical projects. These projects employed engineers, programmers, scientists, administrators,...

View Article

Losing Their Way

by Dwayne Phillips Sometimes projects “lose their way.” Of course that is impossible as what really happens is that people come and go and change their minds. In government, we had a phrase about...

View Article
Browsing all 134 articles
Browse latest View live


Latest Images