August 21, 2020 at 12:00 am
Comments posted to this topic are about the item What's the Bus Factor?
August 21, 2020 at 8:36 am
Do we have examples of this in public companies that are worth sharing? Frank Wells from Disney always comes to mind.
August 21, 2020 at 8:45 am
I regularly ask the same question at project meetings. I'm not wishing anyone ill but, especially with the current public health issues, I want to check what will happen if someone suddenly becomes unavailable for work. When staff take leave, as we are being encouraged to do, will the project be paused for a week or two until their return?
There is a corollary to this, which is "Don't be irreplaceable. If you can't be replaced you can't be promoted."
The answer to both of these problems, at least for programming and database projects, is maintaining good documentation. That shouldn't be a problem as both developers and DBAs all love writing documentation.
August 21, 2020 at 10:42 am
I seem to remember someone on this site saying that when we leave an organisation it's like someone pulling a stick out of a bucket of water. Organisations have a hive mind. If a SPOF exists and that person leaves then you find out that that "critical" component they looked after that couldn't be replaced does get replaced. It was cost vs benefit driving priorities at the time.
COVID has disrupted the hive. Weaknesses in formal communication channels had been exposed with the interruption of informal channels. I think that a lot of thought is going to go into the way we communicate within an organisation. I also think it is long overdue
August 21, 2020 at 10:43 am
I am in a position where I know too much about how things work, and I'm the only person who does. I am working to document things so that someone who is familiar with SQL could take the documentation and trace a business process to find problems. My team of one senior and one junior person are learning lots of things, and I've tried especially in the past few months to ensure that they get opportunities to troubleshoot problems that I would normally do myself, so we can build resilience into our team. I worry a bit about being made redundant at some point -- things are tough for lots of companies and although mine is doing well, I don't know what the future holds. So for me the best solution is to get everything documented and keep up my training so that I have plenty of marketable skills. And I've been with the company for almost 10 years so I would get a nice redundancy package in any case 😀
August 21, 2020 at 11:24 am
We had this discussion as our GIS Tech was headed out to the Tail of the Dragon for a road rally. Turns out GIS is the one place we don't have anyone else with sufficient expertise to be cross trained to pick up where he might leave off. We also don't have a software company backing him up like we do with most of our other software. With COVID-19 and Election maps being pretty popular these days, we'll be looking to correct that when he returns.
Steve
August 21, 2020 at 12:23 pm
This is a good question, Steve. I believe it wouldn't be hard to replace me, as I document everything I do in OneNote. So, if a bus were to hit me, they'd just have to open my OneNote (and I've let it be known that I store things in my OneNote), and after at worst a half a day, they could figure it out.
But that's not true of many of my colleagues. Many of my colleagues keep all their knowledge to themselves. I suspect they consider it a form of job security, if they're the only ones know know how some system runs and they've not documented it anywhere.
Many other colleagues of mine are like me, they document in Word or OneNote everything as well. I guess it boils down to the person and their view of how they "protect" themselves by keeping everything to themselves vs. making it easy to find out how to resolve issues.
Rod
August 21, 2020 at 1:35 pm
Some people think that it is risky to be replaceable, that they find job security in being irreplaceable. I understand this thinking, but I urge you to think otherwise. If you hide software and dependencies so that you are the only one who can do your job, in my opinion you are making a mistake, and an unethical one at that.
For myself, I try to do the opposite. I actively try to eliminate my own job. I try to streamline, eliminate waste and duplication, improve efficiencies, and combine processes. I do my level best to eliminate what I do. Every time I do this, what happens is that, instead of getting rid of my job, people start giving me more work. At the same time, I gain a reputation as a producer, problem solver, and contributor to business success. I think this is a much better and more rewarding path to success than being "irreplaceable".
August 21, 2020 at 1:54 pm
If one DBA gets hit by a bus, then it's a tragedy. Twice, it's a disturbing coincidence. But after the third time, the police show up and start asking questions. Seriously, I think every IT organization should have a policy that no more than X of team members can carpool in the same vehicle on lunch break, and there should always be at least one ow two designated survivors who stay behind. The possibility that all four DBAs riding in the same car could end up dead at the same moment is very real.
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho
August 21, 2020 at 2:37 pm
Some people think that it is risky to be replaceable, that they find job security in being irreplaceable. I understand this thinking, but I urge you to think otherwise. If you hide software and dependencies so that you are the only one who can do your job, in my opinion you are making a mistake, and an unethical one at that.
For myself, I try to do the opposite. I actively try to eliminate my own job. I try to streamline, eliminate waste and duplication, improve efficiencies, and combine processes. I do my level best to eliminate what I do. Every time I do this, what happens is that, instead of getting rid of my job, people start giving me more work. At the same time, I gain a reputation as a producer, problem solver, and contributor to business success. I think this is a much better and more rewarding path to success than being "irreplaceable".
Sounds like you've found a way to be irreplaceable. Not in a role, but to your employer. Well done.
Trying to figure out the world of SQL as marketing consultant for SQL Solutions Group https://sqlsolutionsgroup.com/
August 24, 2020 at 5:21 am
Great question and really got me thinking. I am the only DBA in the company and where several other people DO SQL, the state of the place when I first joined was shocking. I have brought them up to a supportable level kicking and screaming with best practice and security in place.
I think they would cope if I left or was hit by this roaming assassin bus but would revert straight back to form and things would start falling over again. Poor installations, poor code and just an attitude of, well he isn't here anymore so we don't have to follow the rules.
I do document everything I build and have a folder of many scripts but (and this may happen to others) no matter how idiot proof I make the docs or share them half of the team never read them and try and Teflon it onto someone else.
August 24, 2020 at 4:22 pm
My planned retirement date in June 2021; my manager is aware of the date, but there has been no action to cross-train another developer on the web application that I developed in 2009. I was going to postpone ankle surgery since that problem is what I consider minor, but another problem has popped up with the other ankle that has me considering surgery. The surgery is major with several weeks recovery and a few months rehab.
August 24, 2020 at 4:50 pm
Hope it goes well, Ralph
August 24, 2020 at 4:55 pm
Thanks Steve.
Viewing 14 posts - 1 through 13 (of 13 total)
You must be logged in to reply to this topic. Login to reply