T-SQL Tuesday #009: Beach Time

I hope you enjoyed your time in the sun with your toes in the sand.  We are wrapping up this vacation with a little recap on what we learned.  There were some similarities and some differences amongst our vacationers.

I enjoyed reading the comments made this month and the methods employed by each person that came along for the party.

Without further ado, in order of submission, here is what people had to say.

Pinal Dave (Blog | Twitter | TSQLTuesday9)

Pinal teaches us that we need to stop thinking about the job when on vacation and that we don’t need to be a superhero.  He also tells us that we should keep the phone on, but use restraint.

Rob Farley (Blog | Twitter | TSQLTuesday9)

Rob states that “Just because you’re necessary doesn’t mean you’re important.”  He has a very good point with that.  Nobody should horde all of the information about his/her job, project or process.  Learn to share your knowledge and you will learn more in the process!!

Robert Davis (Blog | Twitter | TSQLTuesday9)

SQLSoldier has let it slip that he is working on some top secret project at work away from work.  What I like about this is that he is getting beach time by doing this other project.  It is not necessarily vacation but it is a change and there is a change in project focus for the week long stints that he will be doing this.

Benjamin Nevarez (Blog | Twitter | TSQLTuesday9)

Ben just returned from vacation in time to participate this month.  Ben takes us on vacation with him by sharing some of his pictures.  I think a good way to get ready for vacation is to busy one’s self looking at vacation spots.

Jeremy Carter (Blog | Twitter | TSQLTuesday9)

Jeremy brings up some solid points.  One of the best points is the change management piece.  Jeremy also touches on the hero mentality a bit.  I really like his closing sentence: “The real hero of the day will be missed because they are a true asset, not because the world stopped in their absence.”

Bob Pusateri (Blog | Twitter | TSQLTuesday9)

Bob teaches us in his entry this month that he spends a lot of time in a science museum.  When he is out at the museum he will Delegate a team member to fill in for certain projects or aspects of work.  Bob keeps it pretty simple – Documentation and Delegation are his keys to a successful vacation.

Steve Jones (Blog | Twitter | TSQLTuesday9)

Steve, with his heavy packing and all, makes sure he communicates a lot before he leaves the office.  It is fair to be available for a true emergency.  The person to whom you delegated your responsibilities should be the one to escalate to you.  Trust them to understand what a true emergency is (and hopefully you won’t have to train them further on the topic when you return).

Andy Lohn (Blog | Twitter | TSQLTuesday9)

There are a few things that are new in this blog from SQLQuill.  One, I like his avatar – pretty cool.  His blog theme looks good – the theme works well for his site.  Anyway, back to the topic.  When Andy leaves for vacation he sends a meeting request to the team.  No reminder is set, just a meeting request that shows the time as available.  Then he blocks it out on his calendar as out of the office with an out of office rule set.  Then he goes through his lists and checks off everything that needs to be done (knowledge transfer, tasks, etc).

Stef Bauer (Blog | Twitter | TSQLTuesday9)

Stef was also on vacation as the announcement went out for this months meme.    Stef works in a small shop and is available to the manager should an emergency arise.  Stef recommends a technology silence in order to enjoy vacation – thus twitter goes bye-bye.  Stef also double-checks processes prior to leaving to make sure everything is in tip-top shape.

Josh Feierman (Blog | Twitter | TSQLTuesday9)

This is the first ever TSQLTuesday post by Josh.  Welcome to the party Josh!  Josh believes in project visibility (that’s a good thing).  With everything up to date in sharepoint, he feels a lot more comfortable taking off for vacation.  He also makes certain that he is unreachable via email.  He will turn off email synchronization to the Blackberry when on vacation.  I am strongly considering doing the same.

John Racer (Blog | Twitter | TSQLTuesday9)

John believes that a system that requires constant hand-holding by the dba are incorrectly designed.  There are tools available for making your life easier – use them.  Systems should be built with ease of maintenance in mind.  This is a valuable asset.  Just because it took you 5000 lines of TSQL to accomplish what somebody could do in 10 lines, does not make your code any better or valuable to the company.

My Entry (Twitter | TSQLTuesday9)

I talk about some recent experiences around trying to get away from work for an extended weekend.  I had a funeral to attend that interfered with deadlines for work that I needed to meet.  I also talk about Beach Time as a state of mind rather than a destination or even being vacation.

That’s a Wrap

I hope you enjoyed this vacation filled week.  Let us all wrap things up with a feast in honor of a good vacation and a toast to many great accomplishments.

I hope to see you all next month for another round of TSQL Tuesday!