Tag: BookofRedgate

I do believe that Redgate has been very customer focused since it’s inception. I’ve worked with them in some capacity since 2002 and I’ve felt this along the way:

The next page has this statement:

We believe that if we do what is right for our customers then we will thrive.

I think that’s been true when we keep this in mind. The (relatively) few times we’ve started to do things for ourselves rather than thinking about customers, things haven’t worked out as well.

I think this sentiment is one that guides a lot of my life. Certainly inside Redgate, but also in the rest of my life. If I do what is best for another, or the world, often that works out well. It doesn’t mean I’m as efficient, profitable, less stressed, or anything else as I could be.

But I’m happier and I thrive.

I have a copy of the Book of Redgate from 2010. This was a book we produced internally about the company after 10 years in existence. At that time, I’d been there for about 3 years, and it was interesting to learn a some things about the company. This series of posts looks back at the Book of Redgate 15 years later.

In today’s world, this might mean something different, but in 2010, we had this value:

In our context, this was about being open and transparent. This is the text from the facing page:

No gossiping, no intrigue, no pussy-footing around problems and no telling people what you think they want to hear whist privately disagreeing. We will be transparent in our dealings.

In a small company (2010 must have been 200-ish people), this made a lot of sense and I think overall we minimized politics. I don’t know this will ever be a “no politics” world for Redgate or any other, but we were better about publicly disagreeing.

I think we’ve lost a little of this over the years, as I see more people talking a bit inconsistently to smaller, private groups than they do to large ones. I try hard not to do this, though I’m sure my open-ness sometimes rubs people the wrong way.

I’m OK with some conflict. I’m also OK debating and disagreeing about what we do or why/how we do things. I think it’s healthy to do so.

I have a copy of the Book of Redgate from 2010. This was a book we produced internally about the company after 10 years in existence. At that time, I’d been there for about 3 years, and it was interesting to learn a some things about the company. This series of posts looks back at the Book of Redgate 15 years later.

This is kind of a funny page to look at.

The next page has more detail. This is the text from the facing page:

What we do is very difficult, the current situation is hard to understand ,and the future is uncertain. Mistakes are an inevitable consequence of attempting to get the right stuff done. Unless we can make mistakes visible both individually and collectively ,we will be doomed to mediocrity.

One of the things that I’ve enjoyed about being at Redgate is that we try stuff and we sometimes fail. We talk about those issues in engineering and we do a decent job of an RCA and retrospective that we publish publicly (internally). I like that. Not every group does this, but many do, and lots of groups have influenced others to start or get better.

We’re not perfect, and we know it. However, we are striving to accept those imperfections in others, even as we try to improve.

I have a copy of the Book of Redgate from 2010. This was a book we produced internally about the company after 10 years in existence. At that time, I’d been there for about 3 years, and it was interesting to learn a some things about the company. This series of posts looks back at the Book of Redgate 15 years later.

It was neat to stumble on this in the book, a piece by me, just a few years after Redgate acquired SQL Server Central. I’ll let the words speak for themselves.

I have a copy of the Book of Redgate from 2010. This was a book we produced internally about the company after 10 years in existence. At that time, I’d been there for about 3 years, and it was interesting to learn a some things about the company. This series of posts looks back at the Book of Redgate 15 years later.