Re: course for DBAs in bureaucracies?
Date: Mon, 6 Oct 2014 12:05:32 -0400
Message-ID: <CAE-dsOLU2c_N1dzOzBO-WxSnub5VW=OoYX6nCTr1kkZp2YrpxA_at_mail.gmail.com>
This isn't about 'oracle' its about organizations and working in them. I'm one of those loser DBAs with an MBA. There are a number of business/organization books on this list. He had a very good blog for a long time. Though its for 'developers', we live in similiar worlds.
http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/FogCreekMBACurriculum.html
2 that are not on the list.
Article: Why the VASA Sank. Tom Kyte wrote about this. I think I first
mentioned it on the list about 10 years ago.
From my MBA program this is by far the best book I read http://www.amazon.com/The-Goal-Process-Ongoing-Improvement/dp/0884270610
First off, its not a good novel. Characters are terrible. Story is contrived. Prose is mediocre. Its about process improvement in a factor. Its about moving away form using meaningless ratios to looking for bottlenecks. Its basically like saying 'look at the events in oracle instead of the cache/hit ratio. Reminded me of Cary Milsaps book. Its the same thing. Really easy read too. Alot of your managers may have read it.
Dont hate me too much for having an MBA... there were actually alot of techies in the program. It was probably 25% techies and people in the construction industry (went during the housing boom).
On Wed, Sep 24, 2014 at 11:51 AM, Hans Forbrich <fuzzy.graybeard_at_gmail.com> wrote:
> If 'you own up to it' and the company does not accept that there is
> always a possibility of human failure, then that might not be the company
> to work for ...
>
> If it's a common occurrence that 'you' make such mistakes, the that might
> not be the appropriate position to work in ...
>
> Other way, it might be an opportunity to re-evaluate mobility options.
>
> /Hans
>
>
> On 23/09/2014 7:57 PM, Iggy Fernandez wrote:
>
> I must have sounded like a bureaucrat :-)
>
> OK, here's a hypothetical question. Unfortunately, you don't work for a
> nice employer. A layoff is coming and you know that management is looking
> for justifications to pick people. A database of one of your most important
> (and irritable) customers has been upgraded from 10g to 11g. Certain init
> parameters were supposed to be set (perhaps optimizer_features_enable or
> some such) but you forgot. Your excuse was that you worked the whole
> weekend and were extremely tired as a result and you forgot. There were
> tremendous performance problems for a week and you suddenly realized your
> mistake. What do you do? Be honest.
>
> (1) Admit the mistake to management
> (2) Fix the problem with "alter system" and hope that nobody finds out
>
> Iggy
>
> ------------------------------
> From: iggy_fernandez_at_hotmail.com
> To: oracle-l_at_freelists.org
> Subject: RE: course for DBAs in bureaucracies?
> Date: Tue, 23 Sep 2014 08:56:25 -0700
>
> re: "I noticed that many people do their best at first, then reach the
> point where they realize they will burn out; to protect their health they
> stop caring and just put in their hours. There has to be a better way."
>
> Yes, there is. Understand the purpose of bureaucracy (e.g. change
> management) and embrace it. Plan ahead, submit your change requests in
> time, use detailed standard operating procedures, have great documentation,
> have great competency, improve communication skills,. gain credibility by
> following the process and having a good track record of successful changes,
> build strong personal relationships with other parts of the organization
> including change mangers. That's the only way and it is a better way.
>
> And never ever yank a power cord on purpose.
>
> Iggy
>
>
>
-- http://www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-lReceived on Mon Oct 06 2014 - 18:05:32 CEST