If you could design the next version of SQL Server, or even some smaller product like Data Compare from Red Gate, do you know what you'd add or remove? I think many of us think that we could make a product better by changing a particular feature or function in some way. Or that we would work on one area of the product to improve performance.
And we're always sure that most other DBAs or developers would have the same priorities that we do.
And we're probably wrong. As I've listened to many people express their "must have" feature for a product to Microsoft or some vendor, I've often disagreed with the priority, or even the need for the change. Even some of the suggestions that I've presented to this community have been widely viewed as "bad ideas."
Stepping back, watching the suggestions that come through the SQL Connect feed, and talking with various product managers, I have a new appreciation for how hard it can be to decide where to allocate resources in software development. I recently had the chance to talk with a product manager at Red Gate, and he expressed the challenges of planning a new release.
He is listening to customers, advocating their positions, and trying to balance that with sales input (and their goals) and the product developers' thoughts on improvements that could be made. It's tough enough to decide what changes to make to something as small as Data Compare; I couldn't imagine doing that for SQL Server.
I don't know there's a good solution, but I think that anyone building a solution, whether in software or architecting a new system, ought to consider a variety of opinions on what's needed outside of their own and then make the best decision for that environment. That might not be the one you like, but it might be the one that is best for the business.
Steve Jones
The Voice of the DBA Podcasts
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