Voice of the DBA

Category: Editorial

  • We’re not craftsmen and craftswomen

    We’re just not, we’re not craftspeople, at least not most of us. We do what we need to do at work. We get systems working just enough. We get by. That’s a little sad, and one of my goals is to get as many of you as possible to think of yourselves as craftspeople, not technology workers.

    Jerry Rice was the best at his craft, and yet he continued to put in work on The Hill as though he were trying to catch others rather than the other way around. David Marks and Norm Abram are professionals, and while they need to complete projects to earn money, they also recognize that “just getting it done” is not enough. Doing just enough to complete a job is the sign of a amateur, not a craftsman.

    There are constraints in our business. We never have enough time, money, or all too often, specifications, when we are working with technology. We need to be effective and make things work. However that doesn’t mean doing the bare minimum to be functional.

    We should aim to be professionals, and part of being a professional is continuing to improve our skills over time. Professionals continue to learn; amateurs do not. We should consider new ideas and techniques, dig into new technologies, and avoid shortcuts. Most importantly, we should do the job that we would want someone to do for us.

    We do have lives outside of work, and outside of our careers. However it’s not an either/or, but a balance that we should strive for between work and life. We can include regular education, and consistent improvement over time as we complete work. We balance that by remembering to appreciate and enjoy our lives outside of our chosen profession.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcast

    Listen to the MP3 Audio ( 2.2MB) podcast or subscribe to the feed at iTunes and Mevio . feed

    The Voice of the DBA podcast features music by Everyday Jones. No relation, but I stumbled on to them and really like the music. Support this great duo at www.everydayjones.com.

  • Double Checks

    It’s not the discount double check, but I am a fan of processes that are built to check other processes. When I have a process that runs, or data quality that should be checked, or some other system where I can potentially have a failure, I like to write a separate check, as an independent process, that ensures work is done correctly.

    Why? Because things go wrong. Most of us schedule a process, like an ETL job, and we assign failure notification (and potentially success notification). If the process succeeds or fails, we get notified. However, what happens if the process doesn’t run? In our busy lives, we might not notice that the success email is missing. What if the process runs incorrectly? Do we have some other process that looks for data to be correct, or even present?

    A second (or third) check can make all the difference in the world between operations that appear to run smoothly for our clients, and those processes that always seem to fail. Even if the process fails, if you get notified quickly, you can potentially fix it before your clients notice. That makes you look more professional, but it’s also what should happen. You should ensure things run smoothly.

    An independent check is also a good security check. Brian Kelley wrote a piece about people tampering with your processes. Would you be aware if that happened? Most people would not, unless they have some auditing, or independent processes that looks for potential security issues.

    There are all sorts of mechanisms to perform checks for you, such as GPOs, Policy Based Management, and more, but have you enabled or scheduled them? Anywhere you have automated processes, you should consider writing separate checks and scheduling them to be sure your processes are running correctly.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcast

    Listen to the MP3 Audio ( 2.4MB) podcast or subscribe to the feed at iTunes and Mevio . feed

    The Voice of the DBA podcast features music by Everyday Jones. No relation, but I stumbled on to them and really like the music. Support this great duo at www.everydayjones.com.

  • No Bosses

    Zappos has been a successful company in a number of ways. In addition to tremendous profits, they’ve shown that they can provide amazing customer service by empowering individual employees. Now they’re taking another step forward as they move the company to holacracy and eliminate the traditional managers from managing people.

    The idea in this new structure is that leaders are responsible for circles of people, and employees may be part of numerous circles. It sounds to me as though this is close to the early stages of startup companies where each person has to wear many hats and be responsible for a variety of tasks. I’ve had to manage databases, back up system administrators and Exchange administrators, and even work with telecommunications providers and ISPs at some small companies. All while taking direction from people I didn’t report to.

    It sounds like it’s a structure that many IT people would enjoy. Be responsible for getting work done on different projects or areas, but managing your own efforts, schedule, and priorities. Many of the technology professionals I’ve known like to be assigned work, given a deadline, and then left alone, working at their own pace and schedule to get things done.

    There have been some smaller companies that have embraced this idea, but Zappos, at 1,500 people, is the largest. It will be interesting to see if they can make it work. Time will tell, and I am hoping that Tony Hsieh will update us, perhaps with another talk or lecture that describes the culture inside the company. I rooting for this to work because I do subscribe to the ideas that we are driven by autonomy, mastery, and purpose. I see structures that free people up while requiring responsibility as the best way to move a company forward.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcast

    Listen to the MP3 Audio ( MB) podcast or subscribe to the feed at iTunes and Mevio . feed

    The Voice of the DBA podcast features music by Everyday Jones. No relation, but I stumbled on to them and really like the music. Support this great duo at www.everydayjones.com.

  • The Desktop Setup

    Most of us find ourselves to be creatures of habit. We want to have our chair set at a certain height or we can’t easily type. We prefer certain colors on our monitors, and we want our software to be configured in a certain way. For those of us that work with software, we typically desire a particular set of applications installed on all our systems, or we struggle to be productive.

    Whether you have a laptop or desktop, or even tablet, there are probably certain things you expect to be set up in your environment. These could be hardware or software items that you find necessary to do your job. This week I wanted to ask you what those items are.

    What do you consider to be valuable for your desktop environment?

    It could be hardware or software. Are there tools that you find useful for development? For administration? For ergonomic comfort or efficiency? Perhaps even more importantly, do you have a procedure to easily rebuild your next machine, or this one if it has issues?

    I don’t have a procedure, but I do tend to work in VMs for SQL and development work. This gives me an easy backup, and if something breaks, I restore a snapshot in the VM. More importantly, I still have a machine that is working if some piece of software causes issues in my environment. Aside from SSMS and VS, I do find that I want the Red Gate toolbelt, an image capture tool (I can’t decide which one), Edit Plus, Live Writer, Github, and Evernote in my working environment.

    In terms of hardware, I’m fairly flexible, though I do like my standing desk for most work. I find I prefer it to sitting at a desk or table. Of course, the one constant no matter where I work is I need a good supply of water and coffee.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcast

    Listen to the MP3 Audio ( 2.6MB) podcast or subscribe to the feed at iTunes and Mevio . feed

    The Voice of the DBA podcast features music by Everyday Jones. No relation, but I stumbled on to them and really like the music. Support this great duo at www.everydayjones.com.