Full authority and no responcibility - looks like very much an HMO. I don't
think I would survive in this environment for so long. Maybe if I did not
have where to go and had small children to feed. This is exactly what I
posted. This is no win game and possible only if payd by the hour and payd
very well.
Alex Hillman
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Tuesday, June 26, 2001 1:20 AM
To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L
I can supply the commiseration! You have my sympathies. I just left my
last job (also at a major online brokerage) because of exactly the same sort
of nonsense. In the "good old days" things ran fairly smoothly, technical
people made technical decisions, and the job was great. Then we got very
big fast, hordes of new clueless managers and executives came in and
gradually started insisting on micro-managing everything. (e.g. "Check your
database files into the configuration management system and update them
whenever they change." After some discussion and determining that they
REALLY meant the database files, not the model, I explained that this was an
absurd request. We had 42 production Oracle databases with terabytes of
datafiles! Another example, someone had come up with an 40+ page list of
items that should be documented for every database system. Not 40+ pages of
documentation, a 40+ page list of items to be documented! It included
everything they had ever heard of, whether even remotely relevant or not.
Much of it was very specific to IBM mainframes - their previous environment.
Pages of stuff like "CPU temperature" was to be statically documented in MS
Word! When I started sending them dynamically generated ASCII reports on
things like space utilization, datafile lists, and the like, I was told that
the format was unacceptable - it had to be MS Word in the format that they
had dictated or Power Point (!) also in a format that they dictated. My
"failure to comply" and "lack of the teamwork spirit" on this insanity was
duly noted. It was like Dilbert's worst nightmare.)
For almost two years I tried to get them to see the error of their ways. No
luck. It only got progressively worse. Not all, but the majority of
management absolutely insisted on complete authority, but just as adamantly
denied any responsibility. The concept that the two go together seemed
entirely foreign to them. A month ago, I decided I couldn't take it
anymore - that even sleeping in a refrigerator box and eating from a
dumpster would be preferable. Where there is no professional respect and no
accountability, there is no hope.
I am not saying that this is your situation. I am just saying that what
many others are recommending works only if the decision makers have some
modicum of logical reasoning capability and some sense of responsibility.
Most do, but it is highly dependent on the "corporate culture". Yours
environment sounds a lot like the one I just escaped from was about a year
ago. Perhaps it is more prevalent in that particular industry. Brokerages
tend to be a bit stodgy. Up until last November, we still had a dress code
that included "long sleeve dress shirt, preferably white, tie, dress slacks,
polished shoes, ...", etc. When I started there in 1997, they had a
corporate dress code that included "no beards" and "women can't wear slacks,
only dresses or skirts"! When they wanted to hire me, the major point of
the negotiation was over their insistence that I shave off my beard! This
"negotiation" lasted over three weeks! I refused. They insisted. I said I
wasn't interested if it involved shaving. They called back and upped the
offer. I still refused. There were about a dozen rounds of this before
they finally they gave in and hired me anyway. I guess I did make at least
one significant and lasting change there - they long ago abolished the "no
beards for men. no slacks for women" policy! Of course, that was long
before the current management took over!
I never let, and would not recommend letting, a system suffer because of bad
management. I would just do what actually needed to be done and suffer the
political consequences. It is the lesser evil by far.
-Don Granaman
[certifiable and temporarily "semi-retired" OraSaurus]
----- Original Message -----
To: "Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, June 25, 2001 11:06 AM
> Frankly, I can understand the concern about data (we're a brokerage and
have
> lots of customer account information). But having a non-technical person
> approve adding a datafile? And then another non-technical person review
> that the adding was done according to an approved form? Is it obvious
that
> a non-technical person was setting the audit requirements and not
listening
> when I said it was pointless?
>
> A DBA on another database had his request to increase the next extent size
> on a table refused on the grounds that "what if this change causes the
> database to go down?". His explanation that having a table that was over
> 5,000 extents and growing rapidly was far more likely to cause problems
was
> rejected on the grounds of "if it ain't broke don't fix it. If you say it
> is broke then why is it we aren't having any problems?"
>
> I wasn't looking for confirmation that this is silly (I know it is) so
much
> as just wondering if anyone else has had to deal with this level of
> bureaucracy. And maybe a little commiseration :)
>
> Thanks for helping me get it off my chest,
> Jay Miller
>
> -----Original Message-----
> Sent: Monday, June 25, 2001 11:07 AM
> To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L
>
>
> One of the reasons DBA's are paid well is that they have total control
over
> the production data. No matter what rules the auditors put in place, a
DBA
> could manipulate the data if they wanted to. The company should trust you
> to do your job and not put up read blocks that prevent you from
maintaining
> the database and making changes in a timely manner.
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> Sent: Monday, June 25, 2001 9:32 AM
> To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L
>
>
> We've been through an internal audit and I was just wondering if anyone
else
> has to deal with the rather ludicrous requirements I now have. In order
to
> add or resize a datafile I now need to fill out a form and get Senior VP
> approval and the alert logs must be reviewed every day by a non-DBA in
order
> to be certain that I didn't make any database changes without such
approval.
> The auditors were horrified to discover that not only did I do such things
> whenever I thought them necessary but that we didn't have a non-DBA review
> everything I did after an Oracle upgrade to ensure I didn't install any
> other software.
> Fortunately I managed to convince them that yes, I really did need a Unix
> login (they were skeptical).
>
> So, any similar horror stories?
>
> Jay Miller
> Sr. Oracle DBA
> --
> Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.com
> --
> Author: Miller, Jay
> INET: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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