Are the posted questions getting worse?

  • Hey Gail,

    I think your expertise is needed here.

  • Aargh!!

    'Why didn't this appear on your report? It's wrong. There's been an incident and you've made us look bad in front of government.' - The Business

    <investigates>

    'It's not supposed to have appeared. It doesn't meet any of the conditions you specified.' - Me

    'It should have appeared. The report is supposed to find these cases. You need to fix it.'

    'The report does a) exactly what it says on the tin and b) exactly what you asked for it to do. The process failed at your end.'

    'No, it's wrong, it should have found it. That's what I wanted it to do. It needs to be fixed urgently.'

    'It isn't wrong, it does precisely what the spec says. My boss agrees and so does his boss.'

    'It needs to be fixed ASAP. There is a fault that caused an incident and we had to explain to government.'

    'It's not a fault. It does exactly what you asked us to do and it very specifically won't include this type of situation. To get what you want you'll need to complete a change request which will have to go through CAB. I'll start work on it immediately but I can't release it until you fill in the form.'

    'We'll just live with it in that case'.

    I'm keeping those emails to hide behind when the balloon goes up again.


    On two occasions I have been asked, "Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?" ... I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question.
    โ€”Charles Babbage, Passages from the Life of a Philosopher

    How to post a question to get the most help http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Best+Practices/61537

  • BWFC (7/22/2015)


    'Why didn't this appear on your report? It's wrong. There's been an incident and you've made us look bad in front of government.' - The Business

    <investigates>

    'It's not supposed to have appeared. It doesn't meet any of the conditions you specified.' - Me

    'It should have appeared. The report is supposed to find these cases. You need to fix it.'

    'The report does a) exactly what it says on the tin and b) exactly what you asked for it to do. The process failed at your end.'

    'No, it's wrong, it should have found it. That's what I wanted it to do. It needs to be fixed urgently.'

    'It isn't wrong, it does precisely what the spec says. My boss agrees and so does his boss.'

    'It needs to be fixed ASAP. There is a fault that caused an incident and we had to explain to government.'

    'It's not a fault. It does exactly what you asked us to do and it very specifically won't include this type of situation. To get what you want you'll need to complete a change request which will have to go through CAB. I'll start work on it immediately but I can't release it until you fill in the form.'

    'We'll just live with it in that case'.

    Been there. Done that. The best part about these scenarios is when the BU requests the change, then six months later wants to know who changed the report and why, because the report shouldn't be doing this new functionality.

    The second best part is when they decide to "live with it" because they realized (after creating such a fuss) that they were misreading or misremembering something and they were conflating two different things. But they will "live with it" because they don't want to admit they were wrong after all that energy spent telling everyone that IT screwed up.

    BWFC (7/22/2015)


    I'm keeping those emails to hide behind when the balloon goes up again.

    Been there. Done that. It's why I have to keep repairing my Outlook files. Too many emails to keep.

    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.

  • Here's my fun thing for the day:

    2 a.m. Email: Disk X on non-prod server test is full

    2 a.m. Email: Disk Y on non-prod server qa is full

    2 a.m. Email: Incident ticket on Disk Y on non-prod server qa. The drive is full. Fix it.

    ME at 5:50 a.m. (right after I get in): That's okay. It's all non-prod servers and I can clean this up before anyone gets in and sees.

    Then I see this.

    3:30 a.m. Email from corporate IT person: Hey, here's an alert saying your non-prod disk drives are full. You really need to fix this.

    ME: <replying> Thank you, corporate IT person. We're aware of the issue and are on the alert list.

    ...because apparently we're expected to be monitoring non-production servers during the wee hours of the night and correcting this stuff ASAP.

    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.

  • Brandie Tarvin (7/22/2015)


    Here's my fun thing for the day:

    2 a.m. Email: Disk X on non-prod server test is full

    2 a.m. Email: Disk Y on non-prod server qa is full

    2 a.m. Email: Incident ticket on Disk Y on non-prod server qa. The drive is full. Fix it.

    ME at 5:50 a.m. (right after I get in): That's okay. It's all non-prod servers and I can clean this up before anyone gets in and sees.

    Then I see this.

    3:30 a.m. Email from corporate IT person: Hey, here's an alert saying your non-prod disk drives are full. You really need to fix this.

    ME: <replying> Thank you, corporate IT person. We're aware of the issue and are on the alert list.

    ...because apparently we're expected to be monitoring non-production servers during the wee hours of the night and correcting this stuff ASAP.

    The sad part here is that it's true! There are two really sad parts.

    1. Yes, the non-production servers sending out email is absolutely critical. The world's polarity might change if you don't get dev fixed.

    2. People send you an email telling you of the problem when you were on the original distribution list. I think this drives me insane more than anything. And then, they complain because you're not being responsive enough. Well, if it didn't take me an hour to wade through all the email, it might not take so long to respond. So what do they do next? Of course, they reply to their own email and and send some more! :crazy:

  • The second best part is when they decide to "live with it" because they realized (after creating such a fuss) that they were misreading or misremembering something and they were conflating two different things. But they will "live with it" because they don't want to admit they were wrong after all that energy spent telling everyone that IT screwed up.

    The 'live with it' part is also down to the fact that, for a change, the requestor has to fill in a lengthy form that needs approving through two companies before it even gets to the change board. It means work for them and that puts them off.

    The most frustrating bit is when I asked 'are you using a report called "I Do Not do What You're Asking of Me", to do what they were asking of it, they said they were. They 'hoped it would do it'.

    I got no chance.


    On two occasions I have been asked, "Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?" ... I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question.
    โ€”Charles Babbage, Passages from the Life of a Philosopher

    How to post a question to get the most help http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Best+Practices/61537

  • Brandie Tarvin (7/22/2015)


    BWFC (7/22/2015)


    'Why didn't this appear on your report? It's wrong. There's been an incident and you've made us look bad in front of government.' - The Business

    <investigates>

    'It's not supposed to have appeared. It doesn't meet any of the conditions you specified.' - Me

    'It should have appeared. The report is supposed to find these cases. You need to fix it.'

    'The report does a) exactly what it says on the tin and b) exactly what you asked for it to do. The process failed at your end.'

    'No, it's wrong, it should have found it. That's what I wanted it to do. It needs to be fixed urgently.'

    'It isn't wrong, it does precisely what the spec says. My boss agrees and so does his boss.'

    'It needs to be fixed ASAP. There is a fault that caused an incident and we had to explain to government.'

    'It's not a fault. It does exactly what you asked us to do and it very specifically won't include this type of situation. To get what you want you'll need to complete a change request which will have to go through CAB. I'll start work on it immediately but I can't release it until you fill in the form.'

    'We'll just live with it in that case'.

    Been there. Done that. The best part about these scenarios is when the BU requests the change, then six months later wants to know who changed the report and why, because the report shouldn't be doing this new functionality.

    The second best part is when they decide to "live with it" because they realized (after creating such a fuss) that they were misreading or misremembering something and they were conflating two different things. But they will "live with it" because they don't want to admit they were wrong after all that energy spent telling everyone that IT screwed up.

    BWFC (7/22/2015)


    I'm keeping those emails to hide behind when the balloon goes up again.

    Been there. Done that. It's why I have to keep repairing my Outlook files. Too many emails to keep.

    Well, at least you don't have id...ealist bosses who tell you to give the user what they're asking for even if it isn't what they asked for before. And because mind reading should have occurred since the beginning, this is a defect you need to correct ASAP without any additional documentation from the user.

    Luis C.
    General Disclaimer:
    Are you seriously taking the advice and code from someone from the internet without testing it? Do you at least understand it? Or can it easily kill your server?

    How to post data/code on a forum to get the best help: Option 1 / Option 2
  • Ed Wagner (7/22/2015)


    Brandie Tarvin (7/22/2015)


    Here's my fun thing for the day:

    2 a.m. Email: Disk X on non-prod server test is full

    2 a.m. Email: Disk Y on non-prod server qa is full

    2 a.m. Email: Incident ticket on Disk Y on non-prod server qa. The drive is full. Fix it.

    ME at 5:50 a.m. (right after I get in): That's okay. It's all non-prod servers and I can clean this up before anyone gets in and sees.

    Then I see this.

    3:30 a.m. Email from corporate IT person: Hey, here's an alert saying your non-prod disk drives are full. You really need to fix this.

    ME: <replying> Thank you, corporate IT person. We're aware of the issue and are on the alert list.

    ...because apparently we're expected to be monitoring non-production servers during the wee hours of the night and correcting this stuff ASAP.

    The sad part here is that it's true! There are two really sad parts.

    1. Yes, the non-production servers sending out email is absolutely critical. The world's polarity might change if you don't get dev fixed.

    2. People send you an email telling you of the problem when you were on the original distribution list. I think this drives me insane more than anything. And then, they complain because you're not being responsive enough. Well, if it didn't take me an hour to wade through all the email, it might not take so long to respond. So what do they do next? Of course, they reply to their own email and and send some more! :crazy:

    Because if you don't answer an email at 2am is only because you decided to ignore it, not because you were asleep. The best option is to continue to send emails instead of any more effective way of communication such as a phone call.

    Luis C.
    General Disclaimer:
    Are you seriously taking the advice and code from someone from the internet without testing it? Do you at least understand it? Or can it easily kill your server?

    How to post data/code on a forum to get the best help: Option 1 / Option 2
  • Brandie Tarvin (7/22/2015)


    Here's my fun thing for the day:

    2 a.m. Email: Disk X on non-prod server test is full

    2 a.m. Email: Disk Y on non-prod server qa is full

    2 a.m. Email: Incident ticket on Disk Y on non-prod server qa. The drive is full. Fix it.

    ME at 5:50 a.m. (right after I get in): That's okay. It's all non-prod servers and I can clean this up before anyone gets in and sees.

    Then I see this.

    3:30 a.m. Email from corporate IT person: Hey, here's an alert saying your non-prod disk drives are full. You really need to fix this.

    ME: <replying> Thank you, corporate IT person. We're aware of the issue and are on the alert list.

    ...because apparently we're expected to be monitoring non-production servers during the wee hours of the night and correcting this stuff ASAP.

    Could be looked at two ways.

    1. At least they didn't call knowing that it was soooo urgent.

    or

    2. If it is so urgent then their process is broken because they should have called.

    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

  • Brandie Tarvin (7/22/2015)


    Here's my fun thing for the day:

    2 a.m. Email: Disk X on non-prod server test is full

    2 a.m. Email: Disk Y on non-prod server qa is full

    2 a.m. Email: Incident ticket on Disk Y on non-prod server qa. The drive is full. Fix it.

    ME at 5:50 a.m. (right after I get in): That's okay. It's all non-prod servers and I can clean this up before anyone gets in and sees.

    Then I see this.

    3:30 a.m. Email from corporate IT person: Hey, here's an alert saying your non-prod disk drives are full. You really need to fix this.

    ME: <replying> Thank you, corporate IT person. We're aware of the issue and are on the alert list.

    ...because apparently we're expected to be monitoring non-production servers during the wee hours of the night and correcting this stuff ASAP.

    Sounds like you could benefit from an email rule that does an auto-reply of something like "I'm working on it". Makes you look super-responsive.

    Wayne
    Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server 2008
    Author - SQL Server T-SQL Recipes


    If you can't explain to another person how the code that you're copying from the internet works, then DON'T USE IT on a production system! After all, you will be the one supporting it!
    Links:
    For better assistance in answering your questions
    Performance Problems
    Common date/time routines
    Understanding and Using APPLY Part 1 & Part 2

  • SQLRNNR (7/22/2015)


    Brandie Tarvin (7/22/2015)


    Here's my fun thing for the day:

    2 a.m. Email: Disk X on non-prod server test is full

    2 a.m. Email: Disk Y on non-prod server qa is full

    2 a.m. Email: Incident ticket on Disk Y on non-prod server qa. The drive is full. Fix it.

    ME at 5:50 a.m. (right after I get in): That's okay. It's all non-prod servers and I can clean this up before anyone gets in and sees.

    Then I see this.

    3:30 a.m. Email from corporate IT person: Hey, here's an alert saying your non-prod disk drives are full. You really need to fix this.

    ME: <replying> Thank you, corporate IT person. We're aware of the issue and are on the alert list.

    ...because apparently we're expected to be monitoring non-production servers during the wee hours of the night and correcting this stuff ASAP.

    Could be looked at two ways.

    1. At least they didn't call knowing that it was soooo urgent.

    or

    2. If it is so urgent then their process is broken because they should have called.

    To be completely fair, there are some people in other divisions who don't pay attention to their alerts. So the corporate IT person is probably used to having to knock some people over the head with an email version of the Patented Wet Noodle <tm>.

    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.

  • Luis Cazares (7/22/2015)


    Ed Wagner (7/22/2015)


    Brandie Tarvin (7/22/2015)


    Here's my fun thing for the day:

    2 a.m. Email: Disk X on non-prod server test is full

    2 a.m. Email: Disk Y on non-prod server qa is full

    2 a.m. Email: Incident ticket on Disk Y on non-prod server qa. The drive is full. Fix it.

    ME at 5:50 a.m. (right after I get in): That's okay. It's all non-prod servers and I can clean this up before anyone gets in and sees.

    Then I see this.

    3:30 a.m. Email from corporate IT person: Hey, here's an alert saying your non-prod disk drives are full. You really need to fix this.

    ME: <replying> Thank you, corporate IT person. We're aware of the issue and are on the alert list.

    ...because apparently we're expected to be monitoring non-production servers during the wee hours of the night and correcting this stuff ASAP.

    The sad part here is that it's true! There are two really sad parts.

    1. Yes, the non-production servers sending out email is absolutely critical. The world's polarity might change if you don't get dev fixed.

    2. People send you an email telling you of the problem when you were on the original distribution list. I think this drives me insane more than anything. And then, they complain because you're not being responsive enough. Well, if it didn't take me an hour to wade through all the email, it might not take so long to respond. So what do they do next? Of course, they reply to their own email and and send some more! :crazy:

    Because if you don't answer an email at 2am is only because you decided to ignore it, not because you were asleep. The best option is to continue to send emails instead of any more effective way of communication such as a phone call.

    Amen, Luis. There are some who would rather send an email about something that's critical instead of picking up the phone. The email only gets lost in the sea of email and gives the sender something to complain about later. The point should be about getting the problem fixed and not political CYA garbage that does nothing to solve the problem.

    Urgency and importance aren't communicated when the email is 1 of 200. They could sent it with high importance, but when everything is sent with high importance, nothing is distinguished as important.

  • BWFC (7/22/2015)


    Aargh!!

    'Why didn't this appear on your report? It's wrong. There's been an incident and you've made us look bad in front of government.' - The Business

    <investigates>

    'It's not supposed to have appeared. It doesn't meet any of the conditions you specified.' - Me

    'It should have appeared. The report is supposed to find these cases. You need to fix it.'

    'The report does a) exactly what it says on the tin and b) exactly what you asked for it to do. The process failed at your end.'

    'No, it's wrong, it should have found it. That's what I wanted it to do. It needs to be fixed urgently.'

    'It isn't wrong, it does precisely what the spec says. My boss agrees and so does his boss.'

    'It needs to be fixed ASAP. There is a fault that caused an incident and we had to explain to government.'

    'It's not a fault. It does exactly what you asked us to do and it very specifically won't include this type of situation. To get what you want you'll need to complete a change request which will have to go through CAB. I'll start work on it immediately but I can't release it until you fill in the form.'

    'We'll just live with it in that case'.

    I'm keeping those emails to hide behind when the balloon goes up again.

    Exactly why I take "priority" calls from random business people with a grain of salt. They often want something, but don't really understand what has happened or what isn't working as they expect.

  • Gotta love it when someone schedules a software change/update at month end. Because "there's no impact to the business" and all that.

    <headdesk>

    This too I will survive.

    I hope.

    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.

  • Brandie Tarvin (7/22/2015)


    Gotta love it when someone schedules a software change/update at month end. Because "there's no impact to the business" and all that.

    <headdesk>

    This too I will survive.

    I hope.

    What's wrong with doing a software change at month end if there's no impact to the business? ๐Ÿ˜€

    ๐Ÿ˜Ž



    Alvin Ramard
    Memphis PASS Chapter[/url]

    All my SSC forum answers come with a money back guarantee. If you didn't like the answer then I'll gladly refund what you paid for it.

    For best practices on asking questions, please read the following article: Forum Etiquette: How to post data/code on a forum to get the best help[/url]

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