Voice of the DBA

Category: Editorial

  • Leveling the Field

    Level Playing Field
    Cloud computing can level the field between large and small businesses

    I like small companies. If I had my choice, I’d prefer to work in a small company rather than a large one. I get to know more people, there’s less friction to getting things done, people can make decisions, and I get to do more cool stuff. My budget is smaller, but creativity is often encouraged when solving problems. As I read about some of the cool stuff that startups are doing, it reminds me of a few places I’ve worked.

    One of the challenges with small companies and their software has always been cost. A lot of companies look to Open Source products to cut down on their investments for this reason. However if there weren’t such a high price to the software, I think many companies would go with the “brands” of software that many of us work with every day.

    I remember working for a small company and being in charge of rewriting their inventory and sales system. As we were preparing to program the system, an SAP sales rep called our company and made a pitch to the owner. He was impressed and we spent a few weeks looking at SAP. We knew we couldn’t afford the full SAP software, much less purchasing the multiple servers it would take to run it, but SAP had just released a cut-down version of their software, running on one server, for small businesses. We didn’t buy it then, and I’m glad because we had a unique business model that really benefited from custom programming.

    These days all sorts of companies are looking to get started in new areas, or trying new ideas. Many of them don’t necessarily want to make large IT investments. It’s not only hardware and software, but also the IT expertise to manage the systems. If I were starting a business, or even working with a small business as a developer, I’d seriously consider cloud services. The breadth of offerings and features, the low investment cost, and lack of administration needed really level the playing field between what a small company and a large one can do with technology.

    There are opportunities here. If you’re looking to work with a small business, or start one of your own, look at cloud offerings. You might be surprised what you can get for very little initial investment.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

    We publish three versions of the podcast each day for you to enjoy.

  • Security is Improving

    multiple locks
    Increasing security isn’t this easy in the digital world.

    I have written many times that we need to improve the security of our systems. We should be adhering to best practices, and limiting access where we can, and most of all, forcing all developers and DBAs to write better code that limits the security vulnerabilities, especially for SQL injection. Apparently we are getting better, according to a recent White Hat survey, which found a dramatic decline in the vulnerabilities that are on the sites they monitor. There are still issues, but fewer of them.

    I think that the increased press and attention given to attacks, as well as the focused efforts of hackers are forcing companies to pay more attention to security. I hope this translates into more testing, better training and more careful deployments rather than the haphazard, slap-dash approach that many companies have taken. It’s great that companies can change their look and feel, adding new features and flashy images, but they need to include secure coding efforts and careful review along with everything else.

    Personally, I’d like to believe that developers are getting better about coding in a secure manner, using the patterns and practices that will limit SQL injection or other vulnerabilities. They see the headlines and are spending time working on their coding skills, particularly in the security area. I hope that’s the case, and that we are maturing our industry into one that is making fewer and fewer mistakes as we build new applications.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

    We publish three versions of the podcast each day for you to enjoy.

  • Stack Ranking

    stack monster
    Would you want to work in a place that might rank you relatively, rather than absolutely?

    Vanity Fair ran a piece awhile back about Microsoft and their tenure under Steve Ballmer. It’s no secret that Microsoft lost some of their dominance over the last decade and their fiscal performance has been less than outstanding. While they have built some great products in that time (XBOX, SQL Server, Windows 7), they’ve faltered and stalled on others, and have made their share of mistakes. Today I think many people see Microsoft as an important part of the tech world, but not necessarily a company that dominates any part of their industry.

    One of the interesting things in the piece was a note that there is a stack ranking system of reviewing people. It’s a brutal system that pits people against each other, with the idea that there is a distribution of performance. Each group will have a high performer, and a low performer (or more than one) and a number of people in the middle. No matter what the actual circumstances, that’s how people are graded.

    When I worked at Peoplesoft as a manager, we had a similar system. We graded people from 1-5, 5 being the highest. We had to have proof someone was worth a 1 or a 5, but we also couldn’t rank everyone as a 2, 3, or 4. We had to distribute our people. After I ranked my group and turned it in, our director had a “budget” of people ranked as 4s, and we had to argue with other managers to see which of our 4s would be downgraded to a 3.

    I thought that was crazy. Some people thrive in that environment, but some don’t. Many people want to go to work and do work that would be rated a 3 or 4. Companies need those people because there’s always a percentage of work that suits people that do 4, 3, or even 2 level work. This Friday, ignoring the merits of such a system, I wanted to ask how you feel.

    Would you like to work in a company that uses a stack ranking system?

    I know I wouldn’t. I’m competitive, but that type of system just isn’t for me. I prefer to get along with and work with others, not compete with them on a daily basis.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

    We publish three versions of the podcast each day for you to enjoy.

  • Using Technology in New Ways

    heat map of made shot attempts
    Apparently Kevin Durant doesn’t make his shots from everywhere.

    There are some amazing things that we accomplish with technology. For example, there is a system that can track a missile, moving at incredible speeds, and report this information to other applications that could potentially be used to react in some way. That’s pretty amazing, and whether or not you agree with the purpose of the system, the technical achievement is pretty incredible.

    There are other people that can take that technology and apply it to a more benign use. SportVU has used missile tracking technology in sports to gather additional statistics on the various games and the players. They started using this with soccer, but have brought it to the US and the National Basketball Association, implementing the system in 10 arenas. The linked article looks at the way in which this technology can be applied to player performance, and uncovering patterns that might not be otherwise recognized.

    It’s incredible to see the the heat maps of attempts v makes for one of the most exciting young shooters in the NBA. Watching his Kevin Durant in some games, I was sure that he could make any shot from anywhere on the floor. The data proves me wrong. If I were a defender, I’d be looking to force Durant outside of a few areas near the three point line and let him take his shots from elsewhere. At least until the data showed he was getting better from other spots.

    So many of our decisions these days are based on hard data, but are we collecting the correct data? Could we find other data points that might uncover data within data? This article shows that there might be other technologies out there, even in completely unrelated fields, that might help us find new data points to capture, and new patterns that can help us make better decisions. If you are using any type of unusual technology in your business, let us know.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

    We publish three versions of the podcast each day for you to enjoy.