A typical DBA day can include a mixture of Operational, Engineering and Architectural tasks. Whilst maintaining 100% database server availability and acceptable performance levels.
I’m always looking for method to focus my efforts. Automation, documentation , reporting, monitoring are all ways of simplifying the mountains of information. S
Inspired by the minimalist guide to database administration
My current Zen List of DBA productivity
1) Check work email 3 times a day. With the exception of critical systems monitoring emails – which need immediate attention. Remember: if the issue is important enough , people will find you e.g IM & mobile phone
2) When checking email – take an action on every email : archive, delete , add to task list, delegate
3) If I estimate the action to take less than 1 minute – commit the action
4) Commit to one task at a time.
5) Focus completely on that task. Leads to less mistakes and attention to the details.
6) Aim to do less tasks – with greater concentration . Focus on solutions – documenting – reusing
7) Morning ritual : check failed backups, jobs, critical errors in logs. Don’t let problems stack up.
8) Focus on necessary tasks. Think about what is most important to fulfil the job. As a Production DBA , it could be : availability.
See Also
SQL Server – Maintaining different environments
