RE: Operational Excellence - True or False? (Feel free to explain if so inclined)
Date: Thu, 28 Jul 2011 16:00:54 -0500
Message-ID: <F077F09A0E11504D9E720358BEE994D108477776_at_APSW0553EVS.ms.ds.uhc.com>
What ? Didn't everyone have their favorite Warrior-Mage weilding a sword with one hand while throwing fireballs with the other ?
From: oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org
[mailto:oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org] On Behalf Of Guillermo Alan Bort
Sent: Thursday, July 28, 2011 3:51 PM
To: Taylor, Chris David
Cc: Michael.Coll-Barth_at_VerizonWireless.com; oracle-l_at_freelists.org
Subject: Re: Operational Excellence - True or False? (Feel free to
explain if so inclined)
Thanks Chris, I didn't want to mention multiclassing and RPG but that is exactly what I had in mind when I wrote my reply... I honestly didn't expect there to be many who'd understand that reference here.
cheers
Alan.-
On Thu, Jul 28, 2011 at 5:20 PM, Taylor, Chris David <ChrisDavid.Taylor_at_ingrambarge.com> wrote:
This touches on where I was going with my thought processes.
It seems to me to be similar to the idea of multi-classing for those of us who used to play RPGs back in the day.
It seems to me (and perhaps I'm wrong) that an individual can achieve a higher level of expertise through a targeted/focused approach in a specific area or skill set. When a person tries to achieve the same level of expertise in 2 similar (but also very different) skill sets, the proficiency in both is _behind_ any individual who takes the targeted approach and will always remain behind.
-Chris
From: alanbort_at_gmail.com [mailto:alanbort_at_gmail.com] On Behalf Of Guillermo Alan Bort
Sent: Thursday, July 28, 2011 3:03 PM To: Taylor, Chris David Cc: Michael.Coll-Barth_at_VerizonWireless.com; oracle-l_at_freelists.org Subject: Re: Operational Excellence - True or False? (Feel freeto explain if so inclined)
I've often found it difficult to find candidates who would be able to provide "operational excelence" in a single RDBMS (Oracle)... I'd hate to have to look for someone who has to be proficient in both.
now, cynicism apart, I think that in order to be really good at what you do you have to dedicate a lot of time to it, and if you expect to have any kind of work-life balance then you simply don't have the time to master two RDBMS' to the same level.
"Ah, but I already know Oracle, so I'll spend the next 5 years training in SQL" you say? Well, good luck with that... if you have the time to do full training on SQL then I envy you... and furthermore, 5 years of full time training on SQL means no upkeep training on Oracle, which means you'd be stuck with 9i/10g right now with all these nifty new 11gR2 features... perhaps this is what Oracle is talking about.
Also, I think we need to consider the target audience and read a little more than the phrase itself, I think it's aimed at large companies with very large DBA groups (from 10 to several dozen dbas), so they are giving a statement that applies to *most* people. I have no doubt that there's someone out there that is an Oracle Guru and an expert in SQL Server and also dabbles in MySQL and PGSQL and keeps a Sybase in his usbkey... though I doubt very much they are very common and I'd wager they have more than a couple of decades of experience, which means hiring them may prove too expensive.
just my 0.02 AR$. ;-)
cheers Alan.- On Thu, Jul 28, 2011 at 4:23 PM, Taylor, Chris David<ChrisDavid.Taylor_at_ingrambarge.com> wrote:
Yikes! Yes, I think you need to eat J
I actually made the conscious decision to not define Operational Excellence because it is different for each organization. Operational excellence might be recognized by providing 5 9s of availability (99.999) because that is what is determined as the measuring stick for a particular organization. A different organization may strive for response time for 90% of queries to complete in under 10 ms. Obviously these are simplistic examples.
I think you have made the mistake of equating excellence with infallible or inerrant (or perhaps both). Perhaps to you that is what operational excellence is. To be inerrant and/or infallible.
I hope that helps.
--Chris
From: oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org
[mailto:oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org] On Behalf Of Coll-Barth, Michael
Sent: Thursday, July 28, 2011 2:13 PM
To: oracle-l_at_freelists.org
Subject: RE: Operational Excellence - True or False? (Feel free to explain if so inclined)
What utter nonsensical, management double speak; 'operational excellence'.
But, I'll play.
Care to define the term?
If I were to take the term at face value, I'd have to say that there are very few out there that could be considered excellent at anything. Some of us may be very good or even damn good, but excellent? No. Even someone like Tom Kyte has failings and he'd be the first to tell you that. Just check out his web site.
As written, the statement is false and inflammatory.
Add the following line; 'But that individual could provide the operational proficiency that is quite a bit more than good enough', and the statement becomes true and reasonable.
And with that said, 'excellence' is something to be strived for by everyone, but is rarely, if ever, achieved by anyone.
I haven't eaten today, so perhaps I'm just not feeling excellent. Ted, Bill? You ready to head out? Your stepmom *is* cute, though.
From: oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org
[mailto:oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org] On Behalf Of Taylor, Chris David
Sent: Thursday, July 28, 2011 2:47 PM To: 'oracle-l_at_freelists.org' Subject: Operational Excellence - True or False? (Feel free toexplain if so inclined)
I just want to get an idea of where some of you fall on this statement...
Truth Statement:
Due to the differences in Oracle and Microsoft database products, an individual person cannot provide operational excellence in both products with regard to the management of large enterprise data stores.
(That is, to achieve operational excellence in regard to enterprise data management of large data stores managed by both Oracle and SQL Server, you need individuals who specialize in each technology).
--Chris
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