Are the posted questions getting worse?

  • Brandie Tarvin (12/18/2014)


    So, I'm curious. Anyone have any major projects that people want before the end of the year?

    Sure, but what it is changes every day, so none of it ever gets finished.

  • Brandie Tarvin (12/18/2014)


    So, I'm curious. Anyone have any major projects that people want before the end of the year?

    We have a business user that keeps asking for X fix, which I already have coded actually. But our SDLC requires the QA team to do thorough testing and none of them have the bandwidth until mid-January, which makes this a February release. None of which stops the BU from asking me if I can put the code into production NOW PLEASE.

    What's worse is that he should know better given what impatience has done to his processes before. But some lessons just don't seem to stick.

    When something goes into production, expedited and skipping some testing, who is to blame when there are issues?

    Likely you, not the business.

    So they usually end up with little risk in pushing to short circuit the process.

    Business needs to make a case to support more resources at the bottleneck.

    All too often, they expect IT to be doing this.

    When they actually might be in a better position to quantify benefits to the business.

    Hopefully they are part of the QA process, so the more they push, the more they end up being part of the resources needed to speed things up.

  • GilaMonster (12/18/2014)


    Brandie Tarvin (12/18/2014)


    So, I'm curious. Anyone have any major projects that people want before the end of the year?

    Yes. The complete reverse engineer and rewrite of a crop modelling system, wanted by 6th Jan. Entertainment for next week = 1600 line long module (front end, not SQL) with no comments, erratic indentation and no naming standard.

    Ah well, disappointment is good for people.

    :-D:hehe:

    Jason...AKA CirqueDeSQLeil
    _______________________________________________
    I have given a name to my pain...MCM SQL Server, MVP
    SQL RNNR
    Posting Performance Based Questions - Gail Shaw[/url]
    Learn Extended Events

  • An update on the report I'm trying to generate.

    It's supposed to be daily, so they want a starting point.

    "Can we have one for the whole of November"

    - yes sure, no problems.

    "The file you sent doesn't contain some rows we were expecting"

    - That's because they happened before November.

    some time later

    "Have you fixed the October issue"

    First time I've heard of having cases closed in the previous month as an issue. Well so long as they should have been closed in October I guess...

    Oh and of course there are some from before October as well.

    We will need to redefine the initial file creation I guess. Just as well there is a call about this in 25 minutes.

    Rodders...

  • Greg Edwards-268690 (12/18/2014)


    Brandie Tarvin (12/18/2014)


    So, I'm curious. Anyone have any major projects that people want before the end of the year?

    We have a business user that keeps asking for X fix, which I already have coded actually. But our SDLC requires the QA team to do thorough testing and none of them have the bandwidth until mid-January, which makes this a February release. None of which stops the BU from asking me if I can put the code into production NOW PLEASE.

    What's worse is that he should know better given what impatience has done to his processes before. But some lessons just don't seem to stick.

    When something goes into production, expedited and skipping some testing, who is to blame when there are issues?

    Likely you, not the business.

    So they usually end up with little risk in pushing to short circuit the process.

    Business needs to make a case to support more resources at the bottleneck.

    All too often, they expect IT to be doing this.

    When they actually might be in a better position to quantify benefits to the business.

    Hopefully they are part of the QA process, so the more they push, the more they end up being part of the resources needed to speed things up.

    They selectively ignore requests for testing, never do the testing they're supposed to do and keep pushing for the production release. When things to awry, they don't know what happened or why things didn't work the way they wanted them to. It's just what they asked for, but not what they wanted. It isn't until later that they say they "didn't have time to test" with the deadline already here. Pay no attention to the fact that they were asking for quotes for new work when they were supposed to be testing.

  • Brandie Tarvin (12/18/2014)


    So, I'm curious. Anyone have any major projects that people want before the end of the year?

    We have a business user that keeps asking for X fix, which I already have coded actually. But our SDLC requires the QA team to do thorough testing and none of them have the bandwidth until mid-January, which makes this a February release. None of which stops the BU from asking me if I can put the code into production NOW PLEASE.

    What's worse is that he should know better given what impatience has done to his processes before. But some lessons just don't seem to stick.

    Fixes always seem more urgent to people. When you give in to the impatience it usually means more fixes down the road.

    --------------------------------------
    When you encounter a problem, if the solution isn't readily evident go back to the start and check your assumptions.
    --------------------------------------
    It’s unpleasantly like being drunk.
    What’s so unpleasant about being drunk?
    You ask a glass of water. -- Douglas Adams

  • Ed Wagner (12/18/2014)


    Greg Edwards-268690 (12/18/2014)


    Brandie Tarvin (12/18/2014)


    So, I'm curious. Anyone have any major projects that people want before the end of the year?

    We have a business user that keeps asking for X fix, which I already have coded actually. But our SDLC requires the QA team to do thorough testing and none of them have the bandwidth until mid-January, which makes this a February release. None of which stops the BU from asking me if I can put the code into production NOW PLEASE.

    What's worse is that he should know better given what impatience has done to his processes before. But some lessons just don't seem to stick.

    When something goes into production, expedited and skipping some testing, who is to blame when there are issues?

    Likely you, not the business.

    So they usually end up with little risk in pushing to short circuit the process.

    Business needs to make a case to support more resources at the bottleneck.

    All too often, they expect IT to be doing this.

    When they actually might be in a better position to quantify benefits to the business.

    Hopefully they are part of the QA process, so the more they push, the more they end up being part of the resources needed to speed things up.

    They selectively ignore requests for testing, never do the testing they're supposed to do and keep pushing for the production release. When things to awry, they don't know what happened or why things didn't work the way they wanted them to. It's just what they asked for, but not what they wanted. It isn't until later that they say they "didn't have time to test" with the deadline already here. Pay no attention to the fact that they were asking for quotes for new work when they were supposed to be testing.

    Documentation of what was expected, what was tested, signoffs, and dates can be helpful.

    Or at least help cover your backside.

    I remember one IT Director who used to look forward to the follow up to see what went wrong.

    Especially when a tested scenario that was signed off on cannot be replicated.

    The emergency fix once it was promoted to production soon had to have presidential approval.

    And the quality somehow went up quickly.

    Not hard to figure that one out.

  • Greg Edwards-268690 (12/18/2014)


    Ed Wagner (12/18/2014)


    Greg Edwards-268690 (12/18/2014)


    Brandie Tarvin (12/18/2014)


    So, I'm curious. Anyone have any major projects that people want before the end of the year?

    We have a business user that keeps asking for X fix, which I already have coded actually. But our SDLC requires the QA team to do thorough testing and none of them have the bandwidth until mid-January, which makes this a February release. None of which stops the BU from asking me if I can put the code into production NOW PLEASE.

    What's worse is that he should know better given what impatience has done to his processes before. But some lessons just don't seem to stick.

    When something goes into production, expedited and skipping some testing, who is to blame when there are issues?

    Likely you, not the business.

    So they usually end up with little risk in pushing to short circuit the process.

    Business needs to make a case to support more resources at the bottleneck.

    All too often, they expect IT to be doing this.

    When they actually might be in a better position to quantify benefits to the business.

    Hopefully they are part of the QA process, so the more they push, the more they end up being part of the resources needed to speed things up.

    They selectively ignore requests for testing, never do the testing they're supposed to do and keep pushing for the production release. When things to awry, they don't know what happened or why things didn't work the way they wanted them to. It's just what they asked for, but not what they wanted. It isn't until later that they say they "didn't have time to test" with the deadline already here. Pay no attention to the fact that they were asking for quotes for new work when they were supposed to be testing.

    Documentation of what was expected, what was tested, signoffs, and dates can be helpful.

    Or at least help cover your backside.

    I remember one IT Director who used to look forward to the follow up to see what went wrong.

    Especially when a tested scenario that was signed off on cannot be replicated.

    The emergency fix once it was promoted to production soon had to have presidential approval.

    And the quality somehow went up quickly.

    Not hard to figure that one out.

    Yeah, the documentation does cover my backside. It doesn't change the fact that there's a problem in production, but it does help with the political posturing and games that ensue after the problem occurs. I know the political games are a fact of life, but wish they weren't necessary.

  • Apparently I'm having terminology issues. Someone mentioned that SQL licensing is changing from "per processor" to "per core".

    Silly me, I thought they were the same thing. Can someone explain the difference?

    (Yes, this is me asking a technical question in The Thread. Feel free to take me back into the Tent in the Desert and have the hippo steal all my internet cookies.)

    Brandie Tarvin, MCITP Database AdministratorLiveJournal Blog: http://brandietarvin.livejournal.com/[/url]On LinkedIn!, Google+, and Twitter.Freelance Writer: ShadowrunLatchkeys: Nevermore, Latchkeys: The Bootleg War, and Latchkeys: Roscoes in the Night are now available on Nook and Kindle.

  • Per processor is the old SQL 2008 and before licensing. Two physical processors - two processor licenses. Done.

    Per core is SQL 2012 and later licensing. Two quad core processors - 8 core licenses.

    Gail Shaw
    Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
    SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability

    We walk in the dark places no others will enter
    We stand on the bridge and no one may pass
  • GilaMonster (12/19/2014)


    Per processor is the old SQL 2008 and before licensing. Two physical processors - two processor licenses. Done.

    Per core is SQL 2012 and later licensing. Two quad core processors - 8 core licenses.

    So a single processor can have multiple cores because a core is a measurement of ... something like virtual processors?

    Brandie Tarvin, MCITP Database AdministratorLiveJournal Blog: http://brandietarvin.livejournal.com/[/url]On LinkedIn!, Google+, and Twitter.Freelance Writer: ShadowrunLatchkeys: Nevermore, Latchkeys: The Bootleg War, and Latchkeys: Roscoes in the Night are now available on Nook and Kindle.

  • No, a core is a measure of cores. The number of processing cores on a single physical processor.

    My desktop at home has an Intel i7 quad-core processor. If I look on the motherboard there's a single processor plugged into it. That processor has 4 cores in it. Hence quad-core processor.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-core_processor

    Gail Shaw
    Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
    SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability

    We walk in the dark places no others will enter
    We stand on the bridge and no one may pass
  • You know, this time of year kind of sucks here...

    All the contractors have to come in to "work" while every government person who could finagle it is off until at least the new year.

    So sure, things can get done, but at such a slow pace that you need a deck of cards...

    Have I got projects to work on, that this would be a perfect time for?

    Absolutely!

    BUT with the people being out who are out, parts of said projects that they need to complete first obviously won't...

    So, next week when it's even worse, I'll be dragging my personal laptop in so I can work on boning up to re-take 70-458 to get upgraded to the SQL2012 MCSA.

    Ah well, it could be worse, I could not have a job...

  • Brandie Tarvin (12/19/2014)


    GilaMonster (12/19/2014)


    Per processor is the old SQL 2008 and before licensing. Two physical processors - two processor licenses. Done.

    Per core is SQL 2012 and later licensing. Two quad core processors - 8 core licenses.

    So a single processor can have multiple cores because a core is a measurement of ... something like virtual processors?

    Chiming in here...

    As Gail said, each core is a processing core. Almost (but not quite) an independant processor in it's own right. The reason for the almost is, there's quite a bit of shared "stuff" between the cores (I think some of the L2 and L1 cache, various other bits and bobs)

    A "virtual" processor might be if those cores also did Hyperthreading, which looks like a second processor (per core).

    So, taking Gails quad-core processor as an example, if it supported (and it was enabled) Hyperthreading, it would show to the OS as 8 "processors" in Task Manager, have 4 physical cores, in a single processor die.

    Clear as mud?

    😉

  • Trying another rephrase to see if I understand this correctly.

    So basically instead of creating multiple physical processors like memory makers create sticks of RAM, some bright soul thought to "weld" multiple processors into one "container" and hook them together. That way motherboards still only needed one (or two) slots for a CPU but servers and PCs could get the benefits of having multiple processors.

    Yes? No? Maybe?

    Brandie Tarvin, MCITP Database AdministratorLiveJournal Blog: http://brandietarvin.livejournal.com/[/url]On LinkedIn!, Google+, and Twitter.Freelance Writer: ShadowrunLatchkeys: Nevermore, Latchkeys: The Bootleg War, and Latchkeys: Roscoes in the Night are now available on Nook and Kindle.

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