Voice of the DBA

Tag: syndicated

  • Daily Coping 16 Mar 2021

    I started to add a daily coping tip to the SQLServerCentral newsletter and to the Community Circle, which is helping me deal with the issues in the world. I’m adding my responses for each day here. All my coping tips are under this tag. 

    Today’s tip is to take a full breath in and out before you reply to others.

    I used to respond quickly, sometimes even talking over others. I don’t know that I did this more with women than men, but I’ve tried to be more aware of this. Everyone deserves respect, but more importantly, I ought to be sure I listen more to others and hear what they are saying.

    Recently I got a few messages across Slack while on holiday. I didn’t really check them until I returned, and even then, I interpreted them one way. I got a meeting request later that implied I had committed to something in Slack, which I didn’t think was correct.

    It would have been easy to start complaining and get upset. Or just decline the meeting and refuse to do something. Instead, I took a deep breath, let go of annoyances, and responded in a positive manner. The other person wasn’t trying to be difficult, and as part of being more reasonable and understanding, I tried to remember that.

  • Rebuilding SQL Saturday–Picking a Board of Directors

    With Redgate planning to donating the SQL Saturday brand, trademarks, and domain to a non-profit foundation, there is a need to build a group of individuals to voluntarily manage the organization. Redgate has tasked me with the initial work, and as I work through this process, I am looking to provide some transparency into how this works for now.

    NOTE: This is for the initial board, as someone has to make the first decisions. I expect the board themselves to decide how future directors are chosen, with input from the community.

    There are a lot of people, including myself, who have been unhappy with the way that the previous organization’s board of directors functioned. The combination of a contracted managing director and restrictive bylaws resulted in far too little transparency over the years. At least, that is my view.

    Moving forward, my vision for the foundation is to not recreate an organization that mandates, but rather serves the community, in an open, transparent way. There should be a minimal budget, and no compensation for directors, and no full-time staff.

    I am trying to think aloud here, as I work through this process. None of these items have been decided, and I welcome advice and thoughts from others.

    I also welcome interest and nominations. If you are interested, please leave a comment, or contact me. If you think someone else deserves nomination, please contact them first and ask them to contact me. I do not want to pressure anyone to serve that might not wish to or be able to donate time.

    Qualities for Directors

    I want to outline a few things that I think are important in finding individuals that can serve the foundation and steer it into the future.

    Transparency

    One of the things that bothered me with the previous organization is that there was not enough guidance on what directors would do on a regular basis, and certainly not enough information on what they had done. To me, this means that one of the main qualities for anyone serving this foundation is that they freely and willingly share information.

    My goal is that as close to 100% of debate and discussion, as well as financial information, be publicly available.

    Diversity

    Much of my career has been US focused, though that has really changed in the last decade. When we started SQL Saturday, we didn’t think about the world outside the US, but many events under the SQL Saturday banner have been outside the US.

    We need diverse thought on the issues that organizers and events face.

    This means a diversity of not only geography, but gender, race, orientation, and more. We need to understand that each of us only sees a small portion of the world, and only from our perspective. With that in mind, I aim initially aiming for a breakdown something like this:

    • US – 3-4 directors (knowing I am representing Redgate, 1 of these spots is filled)
    • EU – 2-3 directors
    • APAC – 2-3 directors
    • Rest of world – 1-2 directors

    I would like to have a number of women on the board, as I truly value the different perspectives they bring. I’d also like to have someone of a different race, ethnicity, or orientation than myself.

    If you know of someone that you feel fits this goal, please ask them to contact me.

    Financials

    I have read Steph Locke’s Lessons learnt on the PASS Board, which I think anyone who cares about this should read. She outlines a number of items, which are important in most boards. While I think that the need to fund the organization is important, when this is the main goal, this becomes a problem. Directors should have some business sense, having either run their own company, or served as a high level executive in some company, however large or small, so that they do treat financials with the appropriate importance.

    The goal of this foundation is to run itself on less than US$10,000/year. Any sponsorship funds will go towards events, not expenses.

    Community Drive

    This foundation will exist to further SQL Saturday events, providing resources and assistance where possible. Directors should be oriented towards doing good for others by supporting education and networking, giving back to the world, and driving events forward. While they will not do the work, they will be the voice and inspiration for many through this foundation.

    A director ought to be thinking: how do I get more organizers excited enough to create an event? How can we better support speakers? How do I attract and serve attendees to learn and grow their careers? How can we ensure events feel successful, whether physical or virtual, whether there are 50 or 500 attendees, whether there is one track or 12?

    These are the goals of the foundation.

    While I started my list thinking about people that are thoughtful, measured in their words, and giving of themselves, that was really the bar of what I was looking for. Finding other qualities outside of these are likely more important.

    Candidates

    I have asked a few people if they are interested, to start getting a short list together. Ultimately myself and a few at Redgate will have to make some decisions about who to choose. We’ll appoint an initial board and then let them run the foundation as they see fit, including deciding on how the next set of directors are chosen.

    I haven’t named any names, as I’m not sure it’s fair, and I don’t want to put any pressure on anyone.

    If you are interested in shaping the future of SQL Saturday, please let me know. I have a list, but I’m sure there are people I haven’t considered. If you think someone is a good candidate, encourage them to contact me.

    Above all, remember this is a community first effort, and we’re looking for people that feel the same way.

  • Daily Coping 15 Mar 2021

    I started to add a daily coping tip to the SQLServerCentral newsletter and to the Community Circle, which is helping me deal with the issues in the world. I’m adding my responses for each day here. All my coping tips are under this tag. 

    Today’s tip is to eat mindfully. Appreciate the taste, texture, and smell of your food.

    I enjoy food, though I often like comfort, simple food. I’m not much of a “foodie” and fancy meals don’t do a lot for me. I say this, having been at a couple very expensive meals with Brent Ozar.

    20131027_184940

    Recently a friend sent us some seafood from the East Coast. Mostly some crab soup, crab cakes, and dip. I’m not a big crab fan, but my wife is. I cooked the meal, and then tried to sit down and enjoy the taste of the food. I gave it a chance, and tried to appreciate it. Some things I liked, some I didn’t much care about, so I let me wife have my extra.

    I’m also learning to cook for 2, since all the kids are gone. I’ve been trying some new recipes, but also slowing down my eating with my wife, trying to taste the food, and enjoy (or not) it. Even when it’s something simple, like eggs and vegetables in the morning, I am taking more time to eat and appreciate the meal.

    A far cry from the many “grab something at my desk” days for lunch.

  • A Year of COVID-19

    At this time last year, I was supposed to be in England. I coached the weekend of Mar 7-9, and was supposed to leave the evening of the 9th for a trip to the Redgate office and then a short vacation with my wife. A little over a week before, with Grant and a few friends in Germany, my wife said we should cancel the trip and not take chances on traveling.

    On Mar 11, the next weekend of youth volleyball cancelled in Denver and the city locked down. We had held a practice on Mar 10, and that was the last time I got to work with that group of kids as a team.

    In the last year, I’ve tried to help myself and others with my coping tips, and I can’t believe it’s been almost a year. I am proud of how Redgate responded, with meetings in mid March about how we could help others. While we needed to continue to build and sell software, our CEO also said this was a time for us to think about giving back more to others. From our cookbook to the kids coding club, I’ve been pleased by what Redgate has done.

    At the same time, I’ve also realized that my life changed in many ways. I haven’t been on an airplane in over a year. I’ve had more family time, but also this was a year of change, with my oldest moving away to teach in another country and my daughter going back to university, leaving my wife and I alone. We’ve had fits and starts in what we can and can’t do in Denver, especially with our hobby of coaching youth sports.

    I’ve been able to still go to the gym, but with a mask, something I think I’ll wear in situations for a long time, but something I don’t really enjoy. I had COVID last year, and while I came through unscathed, the illness lingered long enough to worry me. It certainly made me appreciate my health more.

    I’ve had more hours of video meetings in the last year than I might have had in my entire career at Redgate before that. And I’ve worked remotely for 12 years before the pandemic. I’ve rearranged my office 3 times, acquired some new hardware, including a new chair, and yet I still don’t quite feel settled after a year.

    I’ve given more remote presentations in the last year than ever before. I’ve typically not enjoyed them, preferring to be live in front of an audience. While I’ve gotten more comfortable, and even started to prefer to record things in advance, I still miss people.

    I’m hopeful the vaccine will start returning the world to normalcy, though I wonder if that will be this year or next. I also wonder how much we’ll be changed in the future in how we work and gather. I’m hoping for a return to events, celebrations, and entertainment as we had in the past, continuing to embrace some of the good of the last year with flexibility and the freedom to work in different places and at difference times. A bit of a mixed message there, but I do think there have been some good in the last year, with many companies realizing they don’t need someone to dress up formally and go to an office every day.

    It’s been a hard year, and I never would have imagined that I’d still be doing coping tips and at home every day at this point in time. Hopefully that will start to change soon.