Quick Background

I have been a computer and systems engineer with the U.S. government since 1980. One of my avocations is writing about technical subjects.

Workshops and the AYE Conference

I have led several workshops at the AYE Conference (Amplifying Your Effectiveness) in Phoenix the past several years. I highly recommend the conference.

Writings

Books

Roy O'Bryan and I have written It Sounded Good When We Started. It contains stories and lessons learned from working with people on projects over the years. We think project managers can benefit from our mistakes.

In addition, I have written The Software Project Manager's Handbook now out in it's second edition. It contains information I have learned over the years about managing software projects of all sorts and sizes. The IEEE Computer Society published this book.

These two books are available at http://computer.org and www.wiley.com/ieeecs. Amazon (http://www.amazon.com) and Barnes and Noble (http://www.barnesandnoble.com) also sell them.

I have also written two editions of a book on image processing and I compiled a book of material from my late father. These are the Sermons of Neal Phillips

I participate in the SHAPE Forum on Jerry Weinberg's web page. The Forum contributed feedback on one of my Cutter IT e-mail Advisors. The result, I feel a much improved essay, appears here. I highly recommend the SHAPE Forum.

Other Publications

I have also written a number of other articles. Complete list of publications.

Here is one attempt at writing a fiction short story.

Here is a book review of Jerry Weinberg's The Aremac Project.

Some have appeared in The Cutter IT Journal The Cutter IT Journal (formerly American Programmer). (see www.cutter.com).
Some have appeared in the Cutter IT e-mail Advisor (see www.cutter.com).
I have written image processing and other programming papers for The C/C++ Users Journal for the past ten years.
I wrote a couple of editorials for The Open Channel page of IEEE's Computer. (see www.computer.org)
Just added in March 2005
I spend a lot of time traveling as part of my job. I have written a couple of essays about travelling. I hope you enjoy them.

The Cutter IT Journal:
An IDEA to Satisfy People
Back to the Basics: Metrics that Work for Software Projects
How People Drive the Outsourcing Process (Sometimes Off the Road)
Show Me How to do That: "Just Enough" Software Process for the 21st Century
How to Make a V-Shaped Spiral -- and Vice Versa
Using Architecture to Save Intellectual Property
Configuration Management: The Rule Book for Complex Projects
People, Process, and Product

The Cutter IT E-Mail Advisor:
Celebrations - A Tribute to the People at Virginia Tech University
A Manager's Metric: The Employee Weigh-In
Just One, More, LIttle Change
I Thought They Knew What They Were Doing
No One Would Do That! or Why Engineers Should Attend Budget Meetings
Introductions
Maternity Leave, Surfing, and Long Walks
A Peculiar Project
Key Moments in Projects
No Surprises
Good Old Project Management
Summer Jigsaw Puzzles and Project Management
Returning to Some Fundamentals
Frankenstein at Work
Process: Antiprocess
Plan for Success, then Plan for the Blues
Don't Forget to Breathe
Working Out of the Comfort Zone
Let Someone Else Test It
Let Me Just Do It: A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
The Most Important Project in Anyone's Career
Some Thoughts on Requirements Management
Risk Management: We Need to Change the Name
On Second Thought
The Healthy Skeptic
A Quick Cure for Painful Document Writing
Risk Management: We Need to Change the Name
Negative Synergy
Let Us Pause to Reconsider (Again)
The Words We Use
Messages: Judging Them or using Them
Working During a Community Crisis
Extreme System Failures
Derived Requirements
It Matters What You Say, or It's Alive An Employee Awakens
The Free Bagel Measure of Project Health
Dedication Requires Good Management

The Open Channel of IEEE's Computer
Technocentrism
Is Your Project a Dilbert Cartoon?

Travel Essays
Summer Travel
POSH Travel Still Exists
Full Airplanes

Dwayne Phillips (d.phillips@computer.org)