RE: Politics vs. What's Right

From: Kimberly Smith <kimberly.smith_at_gmd.fujitsu.com>
Date: Fri, 06 Jul 2001 13:23:32 -0700
Message-ID: <F001.0034390C.20010706133158@fatcity.com>

I have
been teased quite a bit lately about how I never beat around the bush and that they always know where I stand. However, even with all the teasing this is something that they appreciate. I rarely don't get what I ask for here. I make sure that I can backup what I am saying and I don't ask for stuff I don't really need. I must say, I came into quite a mess and know the systems are quite a bit better. I can actually recover databases now (thankfully, I don't normally have to). There are times where I have to fight for certain things but once you set the precedence of only going to bat for things that matter they tend to listen to you a bit more. There is one guy here who is stubbenor then a mule and I have yet to lose an argument to him.

I tend
to put things in writing as verbal does tend to get ignored. I will e-mail other people's managers directly when there are issues but I do tend to cc my manager. As long as you keep them in the loop.

As
long as you don't get personal and you are clear in why you are making certain demands you should be successful.



-----Original Message-----From: Koivu, Lisa [mailto:lisa.koivu_at_efairfield.com]Sent: Friday, July 06, 2001 2:00 PMTo: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-LSubject: Politics vs. What's Right - long, sorry Happy Friday everyone....
 I've gone from a fast paced environment (small company), to an extremely fast paced environment (dot-com) , to my current employer (large company) that is so bogged down in politics that nothing is done 'right'. Even the tapes aren't switched for the backups on a regular basis - it's so bad that the operators will pop a tape out and push it right back in, and there's no protection on the backup files. In other words, backups may or may not work. I am not the one responsible for the db I am referring to above. The person who is claims that there's nothing much he can do other than complain to his boss, who complains to someone else (in another state) and suppossedly "comes down" on the operators. This has been going on for months and months. So as we were talking, he says to me, What would you do? Play the game, try to slowly change the system, or buck it? Well, since he's been taking the route of slow change, I said BUCK IT. I gave him three alternatives and even suggested either 1. quantifying the loss of one day's worth of data, or even being down for 10 minutes, or 2. flying out there and meeting the operators/their manager face to face and explain what the impact is, or do both. He said #2 would be viewed as going around his boss (well, don't do it without talking to your boss first, you clown). I also said, What's your #1 priority? He said, Keep my job. I said, yes, but a dba's job is to always be able to recover, dude, you know that!
 There's a lot more than this situation above that is stuck in a political game. Most notably, funds for the project I am suppossed to work on - coincidentally, we have no hardware.

I may be blowing off steam here, and if that's what you think I am sorry. However I'd be interested in what angle you would take. I am NOT a politician - I am very candid and frank. I am no buttkisser. This is gonna be difficult and I honestly don't know if I want to stick around for this. How many of you have been in this type of situation?
 Thanks
 Lisa Koivu Oracle DataBORED Administrator 954-935-4117
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RE: Politics vs. What's Right - long, sorry