Those TPS reports are due at 3:30 pm sharp, Mister!
If you’ve ever dealt with a manager who questioned your every move, hijacked meetings, nit-picked over inconsequential details, or made you jump through endless hoops of administrivia, then you know what I’m writing about.
This article is part one of a two part series. Part one deals with identifying how and why managers become micro-managers. Part two, coming in the next issue of the PASS Community Connector, gives you strategies you can use to survive and even thrive in these scenarios, and also tells you when to cut-n-run.
There are already questions showing up on the post. So come join the fun. Post your own questions or experiences, and help the community grow.
David Straithairn as the great Edward R. Murrow in the 2005 film "Good Night and Good Luck"
Journalists are important. In my opinion, they’re very important. The best journalists, like Old Testament prophets, speak truth to power and reveal the ugly dirt behind the pretty and public veneer of society. Their very presence foils corruption or, at least, helps reveal it, punish it, and make it dive for deeper waters else go extinct. It was for this reason that Thomas Jefferson famously wrote:
“The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter. But I should mean that every man should receive those papers and be capable of reading them.” –Thomas Jefferson to Edward Carrington, 1787. ME 6:57
(I’m red-green color blind, so forgive me if that quote is purple or some weird color like that. I just meant for it to be navy blue. But I digress…)
Sadly, the last couple decades have seen the blurring of journalism and entertainment. So much so that shock jocks now get byline billing as journalists and real journalists, in the search for better ratings and higher SEO rank, debase themselves and their content by injecting shock appeal. (This trend isn’t a new thing, btw. Historically, journalism has had other nadirs in the past, the most prominent being the era of yellow journalism spanning the 1880’s to the early 1900’s.) Of course, we see this every day on our television and hear it all the time on the radio – have any radio stations on your car tuner that you always skip? But I’d hardly expect this sort of thing to insinuate itself into an industry news niche like IT journalism. I mean, c’mon! IT is about information after all, and any distortion should surely become apparent in due time.
(Full disclosure: I’ve never been a journalist, but I do write a couple magazine columns – one, a technical column, for SQL Server Magazine and one, an opinion column, for Database Trends & Applications.)
The News Team the Revealed the Evils of McCarthyism in the 2005 film "Good Night and Good Luck"
So I can only begin to explain how jolted I was by this news story released by ZDNet.
The team at ZDNet has done some crackerjack investigative reporting to reveal that an often quoted “Windows Performance Expert” and CTO of a performance management and monitoring products company, Craig Barth, is in fact a fabrication by a well-known reporter and blogger, Randall Kennedy. Both personalities frequently disparaged Microsoft (not that Microsoft isn’t an easy target, they made BOB after all) and, in some cases, evidently created their own aggregate data, which was then used to identify individuals and broach privacy standards. Kennedy goes on to say that he did this with full endorsement of the companies he wrote for, and I quote “They didn’t want to lose 2+ million page views per year, which is what the shock jock persona they developed for me delivered.”
Journalists, and the managers of journalists, should take this as a wake up call. When you’re a trusted person, that trust is often your most valuable asset. I know that the entire media industry is under assault and its revenues are shrinking. But I hope that this has the positive side-effect of reminding everyone involved that quality and credibility are invaluable. Said another way, it’s impossible to place a real dollar value on strong ethics, credibility and trustworthiness, except to know that it’s worth a lot. (Someone remind Toyota and the Wall Street bankers of that too, while we’re at it.)
Everybody enjoys a little free training now and then. I’ve got mountains of free training in the works. Some of it is in-person and local while some are in webcast format. Please join me as you’re able!
There are a short list of mistakes that, if you know of them in advance and prepare for them, will make your life much easier. This presentation shows you these mistakes, the “low hanging fruit” of database administration. Once you apply the lessons learned from this session, you’ll find yourself performing at a higher level of efficiency and effectiveness than before. Quest is sponsoring this and raffling off a copy of my book, SQL in a Nutshell, and O-M-G a KINDLE!!! (Free, but registration required.) And if you haven’t already done it, join PASS!
SQL Injection attacks is the most common hacker trick used on the Web and yet, one of the easiest to prevent. Learn what they are and why you need to be concerned about them. In this webcast, I and SQL Server MVP K. Brian Kelley (blog | twitter) will demonstrate different types of SQL injection attacks. You’ll learn how to find and block them to keep your databases safe, preventing disruptions to your organization. Quest is sponsoring this as well and raffling off more goodies. (Free, but registration required.)
Stereotypes abound for different types of people in the IT world. Developers think DBAs are control freaks. DBAs think developers are unruly cowboys. How do we overcome these differences? If you’re a developer, your best strategy is to manage your DBAs’ anxieties and demonstrate your competence and credibility. Attend this session to learn about 10 techniques that developers can apply to their code which will calm your DBAs’ fears and earn their admiration. Techniques include how to analyze a query plan and how to make sure your query is taking advantage of the best available indexes. Attendance is free although registration is encouraged so we can get a good count for the food, plus there’s free pizza and a raffle at the end. Drinks afterwards at Chilis.
Join SQL Server MVPs, Kevin Kline and Brent Ozar (blog | twitter), along with Quest Product Manager Ari Weil —all from Quest Software—as they interactively present tips and tricks to help you monitor your SQL Server environment with ease. You’ll learn how to use Dynamic Management Views (DMVs) to simplify troubleshooting and significantly enhance SQL Server performance. The day consists of eight sessions with live Q&A – a great way to get answers to your questions straight from the source. Chat live with Quest experts. Plus, you can visit the Quest booth to download helpful resources like white papers, watch demos and more. This virtual training day is free and you can attend the sessions that fit your needs – perfect for tight budgets and busy schedules.
The SQL Server Community will experience an event like no other in the Southeast region. Renowned speakers from around the world will gather in Charlotte, NC to share their knowledge on Microsoft SQL Server. This is your opportunity to meet, network with and learn from the SQL Community leading experts such as Andrew Kelly, Rick Heiges, John Welch, Brian Knight, Geoff Hiten, Andy Warren, Jessica M. Moss, Rafael Salas, Sergey Pustovit and Tim Ford. Also scheduled to present are current SQL PASS President Rushabh Mehta and former SQL PASS Presidents Wayne Snyder and Kevin Kline.
January 1st, 2010 marked a very special day for me. It was the first time in the past ten years in which I had no official PASS responsibility at the HQ level. (I’m still serving in the local PASS chapter here in Nashville, along with the awesomeness that is DrSQL (blog | twitter) and the whackness that is Joe Webb (blog | twitter). We also have the irreplaceable Shelton Dickson and Roberto Lopez helping us out). I also intend to stay active as a speaker for PASS. I spoke at the PASS 2009 Summit, earning a top presenter spot in the Professional Development track, and plan to speak there in the future. And I’m also already booked for some upcoming Virtual Chapter meetings as well as local PASS chapters and SQL Saturdays.
10 Years on the Job Takes Its Toll
I have to admit that I’ve been surprised by the number of friends and acquaintances who’ve asked if I’ll miss it. Isn’t it obvious? Ten years of long hours with zero pay and a heavy burden on family time don’t rest easily on your shoulders. I’m sure that PASS’ first two presidents, Pam Smith and Guy Brown, can corroborate my story – except that they’ve taken a solemn oath never to speak words that includes the letters S, Q, and L in a single sentence. That makes it really hard to ask their opinion on much of anything these days. The heinous nervous twitch that spasmodically attacks their left and right eye, respectively, whenever they hear the words “Micro” or “Soft” uttered in the same conversation is also telling…
All joking aside, I’m honestly very happy to leave PASS in the hands of the next generation of leaders. For more a much more in-depth discussion about my years on the PASS board of directors, check out Brian Moran’s interview for SQL Server Magazine here. The enthusiasm and passion demonstrated by the young turks on the board of directors will keep the organization in stead for many years to come. I’m also very pleased with the new emphasis on community-connectedness (thank you Twitter!) and openness (thank you bloggers!) sweeping the community. It’s already produced much goodness within PASS, which I expect to see multiplied many times over in the future.
A PARTING BOW
I was amazed and surprised when, during the keynote of Day 3, Bill Graziano called me on to the stage along with el presidente Wayne Snyder. PASS did an online postings in a few locations. The PASS Volunteers page spotlights my award under the PASSion Awards section. Then, on the PASSion Award page, the award is the top featured article. This write-up includes a link to the interview with Brian that I mentioned earlier. Funny story – I’d been working in the PASS ready room on Day 2 of the Summit, feverishly trying to improve my slide decks. At the exact same time, Bill and the staff were also feverishly working on their slide deck a mere two seats away – of the presentation to come on Day 3!
I had hair when I started this job. Just sayin'...
Normally, I don’t care very much about how my slides look and would’ve caught Bill red handed in his sly surprise. But today was different because I’d seen two ominous portents of doom – a ferret consorting with a chicken (on Cartoon Network) and a woolly caterpillar crossing the threshold of the Sheraton Hotel and Convention Center lobby. My keen senses as an Oracle DBA kicked off an internal alarm that even 14 years of SQL Serverness could not suppress – eminent disaster at the hands of the demo gods was nigh. So once I got to the PASS ready room, I equipped myself with several diet Mountain Dews, my favorite MP3 tunes via massive ear-buds, and a bag of mixed nuts. Yes – I never knew, not even for a second, that they were talking about me. Several hours later, as if waking from a daze, I realized that I didn’t have any slide decks with demos. Clearly, Graziano had stronger juju than I. Next time, I’ll directly divine the future using turtledove entrails – as all good Oracle DBAs are trained to do – rather than rely on those pathetic woolly caterpillars like MS-Access developers recommend. [All elements of the preceding story concerning divination are a blatant lie.] But I digress…
At the Day 3 keynote, Bill and Wayne surprised me by calling me to the stage and presenting me with the biggest award I’d ever personally seen. I was gobsmacked. On top of that, the attendees gave me a standing ovation for receiving the “Lifetime Passion Award” (no relation to Lifetime “TV for Women”). Again, I was taken aback. Wayne had, evidently, intended on giving me the mic to say a few words. But because he was a bit choked up, he left the stage a bit earlier than he meant and never handed the mic to me. Good thing too – I would’ve blubbered like a baby.
A Special Word of Thanks
Honestly, I can’t thank you enough for your kindness as a community. I never got into PASS for any form of praise or profit. To have a hand in the making of something bigger than me which reflected my own values was all I ever hoped to achieve. And thank you again to all the bloggers who had a kind word about the award as well:
Brian Egler at Network World also mentioned it here.
This year was also a great year for photoslikethese. If you know of any other mentions about the award that day back in November 2009, please post a comment here.
