Voice of the DBA

Category: Editorial

  • The On-Call Load

    For most of us working in technology, I think we understand that if something is broken we might need to work. Not that we have to, or we need to, but we might need to. Perhaps you feel differently, or your company approaches on-call in another way. If so, let me know today how you deal with staff being on-call.

    In my career, there are jobs with formal on-call, informal on-call, or even no on-call. In the latter situation, there isn’t anyone who is prepared to handle issues outside of normal working hours, but that doesn’t mean if management calls you can ignore them. It’s that the organization didn’t expect issues. I worked in a small company (< 50 people), where we primarily had systems for people who worked in the office, and nothing was running at night (outside of backups). Normally no one knew if there was an issue overnight or on weekends, but I did get called by the owner when he went in one weekend and couldn’t receive a fax on our computer system. So I guess I was the emergency-on-call person.

    In both large and small companies, I’ve had formal on-call situations where humans or automated systems would know I was assigned as the person to contact for issues. These might be 24-hour periods, weeks, or even a month at a time. In informal situations, usually, there was a list of technical people’s contact information and anyone needing help would just pick one and call, often based on who they thought could solve the problem.

    For most of my career, being on-call hasn’t been a large burden. I’ve been interrupted during some events, dinners, or holidays, but relatively rarely. My wife and I have felt it wasn’t too burdensome, especially given compensation and other flexibility. At the same time, there have been some places where on-call is a disruption to my life. Usually, I’ve tried to leave those positions as quickly as I could, though that might take months.

    I always ask about on-call responsibilities when I interview for positions. It’s not that the answer is a deciding factor, but it is a factor. If on-call is more demanding, I would ask for something in return: perhaps comp time, more salary, or some other flexibility.

    What is your on-call situation? Is that acceptable to you? Have you never been called outside of working hours? Let me know today.

    Steve Jones

    Listen to the podcast at Libsyn, Spotify, or iTunes.

  • Action Over Knowledge

    I saw a quote recently that resonated with me. It’s not something I’ve often struggled with, but I have at times. Here’s the quote:

    “Life rewards action, not intelligence. Many brilliant people talk themselves out of getting started, and being smart doesn’t help very much without the courage to act. You can’t win if you’re not in the game.” – @JamesClear

    Part of my goals in life are to help others and motivate them to engage in life and drive themselves forward. I have tried to motivate my children, I work with kids I coach to grow and change, and I (think) write about this often here. I want you to take charge of your career and life and drive it forward in the way that works for you.

    However, you have to work at things. The quote above notes that it’s not how smart you are, but having success in life comes from action. From doing something. From making efforts. The last part is the most important, if you don’t engage and become part of your game, your life, you can’t win or achieve your goals.

    As Ferris Bueller said, life can move pretty and you can miss it if you’re not paying attention. As I get older, that means more to me. Life slips by, days, weeks, months, even years seem to fly by. Especially after the pandemic, where I see someone and realize it hasn’t been a year or two since I’ve seen them but four years.

    You don’t have to be extremely driven and type A. I think I might be a little too driven at times, living in chaos, but I met someone recently who spent more than 5 years trying to transform a company. This individual worked their job, spent nights and weekends trying to learn more about their business, and drove themselves and others well beyond what I’d consider a balance in life. They were working well over 60 hours a week for years, as were some employees. I don’t think that’s a great way to live, and whether it’s work, hobbies, or something else, forgetting to balance the various parts of your life isn’t good.

    At the same time, inaction, not trying to grow, learn, practice, or even attempt something new in any part of your life isn’t good either.

    Work on your career and skills but balance that with the time you need away from work. Invest in your education to change careers if you like, but don’t plan on working what is essentially two jobs to become a way of life. At least not for too many years. Enjoy your hobbies, but remember there is family at home that deserves and needs your time as well. Find ways to engage in life, but in a way that respects all the commitments to work, family, friends, faith, hobbies, and yourself. Especially don’t forget about taking care of yourself.

    Effort is often more important than the short-term results. Just being engaged and in the game gives you a chance of success, but more, it allows you to enjoy the ride. Just do so in a balanced way.

    Steve Jones

    Listen to the podcast at Libsyn, Spotify, or iTunes.

  • Seagull Management

    Last year, I read Surrender, a book by U2 lead singer, Bono. Bill Gates listed this as one of the top books to read at one point, so I picked it up and dove in. I have enjoyed U2s music since I was in high school, and was interested to hear what made Bill Gates recommend his book. The book is partially a journey of U2, but mostly a look at how Bono’s view of the world and life has changed over time.

    Bono grew beyond music in his life to become an activist and try to shape the world into a better place. Whether you agree with his efforts or focus or not, it’s admirable that he has tried to be more than a rich and famous singer. He’s had to build more skills around how to communicate with others, convince them to take a course of action, and educate himself about the world. In trying to build these skills, he’s founded or worked in organizations around his time with U2.

    As a part of that, he had a great quote about leaders who are busy elsewhere but try to be involved in different parts of the business. He called this seagull management, and it was something he tried to avoid doing as he only comes into the office periodically.

    Seagull management is where you fly into the office, shit over what everyone is doing, and fly off again. I wonder how many people in management do this but think that they are motivating, helping, or improving their workers’ efforts. Trying to bring their view, experience, knowledge, etc. to others, but invariably doing so in a way that doesn’t resonate with workers. Perhaps it’s not even helpful if management hasn’t taken the time to understand why people are working in a certain way.

    I also see this with technical leads or senior engineers who come into a situation, often with strong opinions. They might express how they would have coded or architected something completely differently. Perhaps even informing existing staff that they are doing something wrong. Whether good intentioned or not, seagull management doesn’t help improve any situation.

    We make bad decisions, we may build something without considering all the information, or perhaps the situation changes. We all find ourselves in situations where the technology doesn’t seem to be well matched to the environment. We might wish things were different. However, no matter how we arrive at our present situation, we are there. Extracting ourselves from any legacy environment takes time and has to be a journey that is undertaken with support from both technical staff and management.

    Most of us want to build great systems that work well for our clients and are admired by others. We rarely find ourselves in a place where we have the time and resources to do that. We can refactor, evolve, and grow our systems to be better, but it does take time. We need a goal, direction, support, and understanding that change is a journey, not something that a manager can fix on their rare visits to our environment.

    Steve Jones

    Listen to the podcast at Libsyn, Spotify, or iTunes.

  • Missing the Office

    Recently I traveled to visit a customer who has an in-the-office culture. They have multiple large buildings outside a major US city and almost all their employees (7000+) live nearby and are expected to be in the office the whole week. More senior people can opt for 4 10-hour shifts rather than 5 8-hour shifts, but with few exceptions, they have people in the office.

    I hadn’t seen that in a long time. Almost every customer is mostly remote or some level of hybrid (usually 2-3 days a week in the office). What’s more, they have an open culture, with rows of desks for teams and spaces between the rows for managers and directors. No cubes!

    Everyone below a senior VP/C-level is at a desk. There are conference rooms and smaller quiet pods, but mostly everyone works in wide open spaces. From developers to sales to finance to human resources. It’s both chaotic and loud, but also refreshing. I also loved seeing so many people wearing company logos on t-shirts, jackets, hats, and more.

    The environment reminds me of my time at JD Edwards. We had cubicles, but mostly open ones with half walls to the side and one full wall at the back where two cubes met. However, it was a very strong culture of comradery and closeness that I hadn’t seen at any large company before or since: until now. Teams might be close in some places I’ve worked, but the entire company at JD Edwards felt like a family of people who were working together. We didn’t always get along and argued, but we were all united. It was a great feeling.

    I miss that. Redgate is a great company, and I enjoy my co-workers, but I miss going to an office and seeing everyone inside it. Most people come to the office once or twice a week, but I miss my visits when most everyone was there every day. I’ve worked remotely for over twenty years, but I do still miss the office some days. Certainly my visits to the various Redgate offices, while good, have me wishing I saw more people there every day. I’m heading there tomorrow, and I hope I see lots of people.

    I don’t know that mandating everyone in the office is a better choice, but I do know there are good things about gathering groups of people together. Strong leadership, empathy, a clear vision, and a balanced workload are important for any organization, but especially important if you want everyone in the office these days. This customer did a great job with it, and I think they would still have a strong culture with remote work, but their choice works, and I’m a little jealous.

    Steve Jones

    Listen to the podcast at Libsyn, Spotify, or iTunes.