Voice of the DBA

I want PASS to survive.

I can say that unequivocally, because this organization has been a part of my career, my job, and my life for twenty years. Many of my fondest memories, my widest smiles, and my deepest thoughts have been connected in some way to the PASS organization.

I want them to survive.

I’m also angry at them. The board, C&C, past directors, the whole last decade because of the way I think things have been run. I have my own demons here, with how I feel I’ve been poorly treated by the organization in the past. I am trying to set that aside, and focus on what’s important.

We need PASS to survive this year, which means we pull together and push forward. Let’s make this the best Summit we can.

There are plenty of people complaining about PASS, and the way the Summit is run. I do not think I could have done things better than anyone else has. Perhaps I could have, but I certainly could have managed things worse. I don’t know what data is inside this organization, or why decisions are made. Maybe there should be more transparency and accountability, but those are issues to examine after another 60 days. This year is a black swan event, one of a few that PASS has survived. Whether this organization should have been better prepared is also a discussion for late November.

I truly don’t think that anyone is trying to make bad decisions or upset others. Making decisions is hard, and I know there is a lot of pressure on everyone. I also think that it’s up to each of us to hold everyone accountable regularly, something that hasn’t been done often enough, or widely enough. Again, we can discuss and debate that later in the year, and certainly these are things anyone running for the board needs to address, but remember that a lot of things have gone wrong this year for everyone. At home, and in business. Certainly at PASS.

This Summit is a great opportunity to learn something, and get access to the content for a full year. There are some great pre-cons at a competitive price. Booking two of these and adding the Summit is a price that many of us would pay for two days of training. You can learn a lot in two days, and then access the rest of the content for a full year.

You also support PASS. I want them to survive.

I don’t want PASS to continue to operate in the same manner next year. I don’t want the same levels of accountability, transparency, financial disclosure or protocol. I want all that to be better. I think everyone involved wants that, and they want change.

For now, I want PASS to survive, and I hope you do, too.

If you’ve enjoyed a past Summit or a SQL Saturday or a virtual group, think about attending the Summit this year. Get some training, reconnect with those of us in the same industry, and get inspired by all the possibilities of what you can do with data in your job.