Voice of the DBA

Tag: misc

  • Argenis Without Borders – v2

    Last year at the PASS Summit, Kristen Benzel and Argenis Fernandez put on a fundraiser to raise money for Doctors Without Borders. It was very successful, bringing over $13,000 to the charitable work this organization does.

    We had fun with it, with some great rainbow costumes that were displayed at the PASS Summit, including me.

    doctorswithoutbordersrainbow

    This year, 2015, there’s a new campaign. Once again, we’re raising money for Doctors without Borders. The goal is $20k, but we’re already close to $1,000 raised. That means that Argenis will be dressed like Ted.

    Halloween Steve

    My costume has yet to be chosen. I’m not usually a Halloween person, but in this case I’ll make an exception. The last day of the PASS Summit this year is Halloween, so I’m thinking that’s the day to

    However, I’m not sure what to commit to. Should I be a super hero? A classic horror look? What would make you donate a little to the campaign? I’m looking for a few ideas, thoughts, things that you think would bring a smile to your face, and the willingness to help raise some money for a great cause.

    Donate today and post your costume suggestions below. Feel free to see if you can come up with something that might embarrass me.

  • Information on the Go

    I have been very interested in smart watches over the last couple years. I like wearing a watch that allows me to glance at it for the current time. While I can pull out my phone, and I’ve done that for little over a year, I preferred a watch. There are plenty of times that my phone isn’t easily pulled out.

    After considering lots of watches out there, I eventually settled on a Pebble, which I wrote about after living with it for a few weeks.

    Since that time, I’ve continued to use the watch and have enjoyed getting data on the go. Today I was traveling and getting a flight notification (priority email) through the watch as I was traveling through the airport was nice. I didn’t have to pull out the phone, and in fact, because it was in a low pocket, I didn’t feel it vibrate. Not that I would have had issues today, but there are times it would have been handy.

    One the plane, I saw someone with an Apple Watch. In fact, I’ve been seeing them more and more. My wife had asked me if I wanted one for my birthday this year. I like Apple products, and it was tempting. However the more I’ve looked at the product and read about it, the more I agree with Troy Hunt. It’s beautiful and awesome. And pointless.

    I want simple, quick information on the go. For me, that boils down to a few things I’m looking to learn without finding my phone while I’m walking, running, driving, or even talking with friends:

    • time
    • text messages – This is so I can decide if I want to, or need to, respond.
    • high priority emails – In the iPhone, these are my “VIP” people.
    • music – current song, play/pause, skip/restart
    • pace and exercise time

    The last item is really nice. If I start a workout on the Map My Run app, it starts the display on my wrist

    Photo Jul 17, 2 29 11 PM

    There’s not much more I want to appear on my wrist. Having this track my steps  would be nice, but I haven’t seen a way to track this in the background, which is what I would need to get rid of my flex.

    Responding to texts might be nice, but I can’t see how that would work smoothly, nor do I want to use speech. I don’t want to answer the phone on it, ala Dick Tracy, nor am I looking to play games.

    Really, I’m looking for a little bit of data. The Pebble seems to be the best choice for me, with a long battery life, flexibility to control notifications from the phone, and get a bit of information in an easy to consume fashion.

    Your needs might be different, and I’m sure some people would prefer a better device that does more, perhaps with GPS or other functions, but for now I haven’t seen a better device for me.

  • Trust People

    This editorial was originally published on Jan 6, 2011. It is being re-run as Steve is away on vacation.

    I saw an article recently with a great title: Put your trust in systems, not in genius. It is a great read, and starts out by talking about the Gauls and their sacking of Rome in 4BC with a superior army. However by 200 years later, the Roman army was the strongest in the ancient world. How did this happen? Many people believe it was the creation of a set of processes, management, and training that used standards and synergies to achieve greatness.

    Many companies today try to implement standards, and strong management of their staffs, but they don’t achieve greatness. Why not?

    I think it is because we have failed to grasp the important fact that building a system, a set of processes and procedures and unleashing managers to enforce the rules is not the important part. The really, really important thing is using the thoughts and ideas, the brain power of the individuals to evolve and adapt the procedures to work better. We too often don’t “trust” our individual knowledge workers to make good decisions.

    We have to hold people accountable for results, for building better systems, and then let them bend rules, change procedures where it counts. Most people want to do a good job. If we give them the responsibility to do so, I think most people will rise to the challenge.

    Steve Jones

  • I have an ask…

    I heard this quite a bit recently while up in Redmond.

    "I have an ask for you"

    "Do you have an ask?"

    and more. It’s annoying, and disturbing. Hearing that distracts me from the conversation taking place. I keep wanting to say “do you mean you have a request?”

    Even Microsoft employees don’t love it. However, the usage is not necessarily incorrect, which surprises me. And further annoys me.

    I’m sure there’s no way to stop it, but it reads like poor choice of words, picked to seem cool or hip.

    It’s not for me, and it doesn’t encourage me to do anything for you.