I remember going to the theater over the Thanksgiving holiday in 1987 and seeing Planes, Trains, and Automobiles with Steve Martin and John Candy. My family didn’t often take in the holiday weekend movie releases, but Steve was a family favorite actor already, and friends had given it a good review. Having watched it just a few years ago for the first time in a couple of decades, it really is a classic of my childhood with two of the most popular comedy actors at the time (RIP John Candy).
A movie comedy movie from 1987? What in the world does that have to do with data and technology on a balmy July Saturday in 2024? Has anyone ever heard of a company called Crowdstrike?
(pause for dramatic effect)
As you may have seen from a few other Redgate employees, we gathered in Austin this week to celebrate our 25th anniversary. It was a great opportunity to see lots of people that I don’t normally get to connect with in person, and a lovely time of celebration. Plus, Steve, Grant, and I may have gotten a few new Simple Talks podcast episodes recorded to release later this year. 😉
And then, Friday happened.
I had scheduled a later morning flight to get from Austin back to State College. With one connection in Washington, D.C., the trip was supposed to take about five hours total. Then, at 9:30am, the first delay notification for two hours arrived. Then another. And another. In total, the flight was delayed by more than four hours. Even though it was clear we would eventually leave Austin, it was becoming even more clear that there was no way I’d make my connecting flight in D.C. The earliest United could get me home from there was Sunday afternoon. That just wasn’t going to work.
“No problem,” I thought, “I’ll just rent a car and drive 4.5 hours.” Nope, the rental car companies were having nothing of the one-way rental game this weekend.
“OK, I’ll catch a Megabus!” except that option was going to take 12.5 hours.
“No worries! A Greyhound will surely be quicker and more direct.” Heh… guess not.
“Oh wait, I could get a train to within about 30 miles of State College and have someone pick me up. Yeah, that’s the ticket!” (pun intended). With a brief search, this actually seemed like it was a viable option so I booked the tickets. And it all went smoothly this morning; Uber to the train station, departed on time, spacious seats, smooth ride. But since I don’t travel by train in the U.S. ever, it never occurred to me that a 25-minute layover in Philadelphia might be cutting it close. That is, until the train rolled in into the station as my connecting train was pulling away.
And yes, there’s only one train a day that goes near State College.
My only option at this point was to take a later train to Harrisburg and have family pick me up from there, an 80-mile trip. As I type this, I’m waiting at the Philadelphia 30th Street Station for that connecting train. It’s been a long 32 hours, but at least I’ll be home tonight.
If you made it this far, thanks for letting me detail my little travel adventure. I’m not looking for pity or to complain. Life happens, and surprisingly, most people I’ve been around the last two days have been understanding and kind to the employees just trying to do their job.
But wow! 8.5 million Windows computers were affected by a “routine” update of some definition files for their Falcon Sensor software. At least, I assume, based on initial reporting, that these updates were a routine update used to enhance security capabilities of the software. The engineers that were involved (and there was certainly more than just one), had probably created updates like this dozens of times. To them, this had become a routine thing with apparently low risk of causing a crippling worldwide computer outage that would disrupt the lives and services of untold numbers of people.
Having routine tasks is often really good for us, until we forget what’s at stake. As data professionals, our days are often filled with routine tasks. Select some data from here. Update a report there. Modify the application schema for the next application release. Unfortunately, many of these tasks rarely include testing or validation in a proper environment that can help the team spot problems before a defect causes real damage. Does your routine work still support best practices like testing and validation?
Friday was quite a unique day. However, if we just let it pass by as a one-day headline, we miss the opportunity to examine our current practices and procedures to help identify weaknesses that may exist simply because so much of what we do has become routine.
So don’t miss the wakeup call. Take the time, do the work, and help protect your future self, and your future customers, from a minor update becoming a major event. While I have some more time on this travel adventure, I’m going to start doing the same.
