Mladen, this is not directed specifically at you, but you have raised
something in my mind that often just irritates the heck out of me.
I often hear the term Damagement, damagers, etc... and I understand it, and
have had more than a few occasions where a damager has killed me....
Management is far from perfect, and I've met a number of managers who
deserve to be kicked in the back side and sent out on the street.
Yet, I often also wonder how much of this is OUR OWN FAULT. How many IT guys
have I met that are way to passive, more than content to sit in there cubes
and blame management, when the fault, at least in part, lies squarely with
them. More than I can count. Lack of communication, lack of passion for ones
own work, lack of vision, contentment in not understanding the big picture,
the "I'm not paid to do this" syndrome or the "It's not my job" POV all in
my eyes lead to as much failure as management. The guys who will not get
their lazy behinds out of their chairs and go TALK to someone (other than
the really good looking blonde down the isle) deserve to have their head
chopped off as much as the manager they can't stand.
I've met so many who will sit in meetings and let managers say STUPID
things, never correct, never interject and so the cycle of stupidity is
perpetuated. Sure, there may be cultures that foster this type of behavior,
but I see it in cultures that are quite open too.
Bottom line is that we have to refuse to be silent. We must go out and take
a stand, and take some risk. We must LEARN about more than how Oracle works,
we must learn how the business works. Those who do this are the successful
ones, and my observation is that I rarely hear them cussing management. This
is usually because, they either change the world around them, or they move
on to a place where they can be effective.
My opinion, YMMV,
Robert
-----Original Message-----
To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L
Sent: 10/3/2003 10:14 AM
I enjoy immensely reading Cary's book, but I have some questions that
I want to ask publicly. Recently, I made a comment about Chris Lawson's
book being a "Dale Carnegie book for a DBA" and now I see that Cary is
also advising feeding the hungry business users ("buy him a sandwich").
It is true that many problems are consequences of inadequate
communication, general lack of business knowledge in the "computer geek
culture" and even disdain for it, but, in my opinion, many problems are
also a consequence of incompetent managers ("damagers"), office
politics, and hard times. Hard times present problems because people do
not want to pay for a competent DBA but frequently hire a shaman or a
witch doctor who "improves" on the system based on snake oil type
techniques. If I cannot get more money then some bozo after a
performance tuning course (example from Chris Lawson's book), why bother
reading and investing into myself? A cynical geekish attitude and the
"old boys" network will do just as well.
Characteristics of the "performance analyst", as described in the book,
are the ones of the field general (has the overview of the whole
problem, motivates, manages the problem) but performance analysts
frequently work for the drill sergeants who mostly care how are they
dressed (you guessed it, I hate neckties) and did they show up early
enough.
Now, after having indulged into lengthy preamble, let's ask the
questions:
1) This book is meant for performance analysts. Do you plan on writing
one for management, as well? If performance analysts are held back by
the damagement,they cannot perform any of the good work you described in
your book. You have been both a DBA and a VP, so you have the
credibility in both roles.
2) Do you foresee a change for the role of a performance analyst in an
organization to be more of a technical manager and less of a computer
geek?
3) What will happen to the "traditional DBA"? Are we an endangered
species? Should I be wary of the poachers?
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Author: Mladen Gogala
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