November 19, 2010 at 9:36 am
I'm a developer /DBA aDmin, and I can totally see where something like a tablet would help while I'm at work (no commuting advantage because I bicycle in, I can't really even use the phone). My apps are in-house apps, so I walk down the hall to work with other employees on troubleshooting and and such. Having the tablet with me would save me some many trips back to my desk over small design changes, and permissions corrections and such, not to mention corporate IM. Also, I had 2 issues come up while I was at PASS last week, and the pad would have been way better than carrying my 17" laptop.
Notice I don't say anything about taking it home with me.
November 19, 2010 at 10:05 am
Grant Fritchey (11/19/2010)
I've fixed production issues remotely using a smart phone while I was at a user group meeting. Was I distracted for five minutes? Yep, but it was only five minutes. I didn't get up out of my chair or bother the people sitting next to me, let alone have to leave the meeting.
JP Dakota (11/19/2010)
3. I have some custom apps that streamline mundane tasks.
Okay, Grant and JP:
What tools/apps do you have on your devices that allow you to do this? What all was involved in getting/using them?
Wayne
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server 2008
Author - SQL Server T-SQL Recipes
November 19, 2010 at 10:26 am
WayneS (11/19/2010)
Grant Fritchey (11/19/2010)
I've fixed production issues remotely using a smart phone while I was at a user group meeting. Was I distracted for five minutes? Yep, but it was only five minutes. I didn't get up out of my chair or bother the people sitting next to me, let alone have to leave the meeting.JP Dakota (11/19/2010)
3. I have some custom apps that streamline mundane tasks.Okay, Grant and JP:
What tools/apps do you have on your devices that allow you to do this? What all was involved in getting/using them?
I've been using Idera's Remote Manager. Works pretty well. don't RDP. You'll want to shoot yourself.
I'm looking at some other stuff now. Red Gate has a new Monitoring tool. I can't say much about it yet, just cause I don't know.
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
- Theodore Roosevelt
Author of:
SQL Server Execution Plans
SQL Server Query Performance Tuning
November 19, 2010 at 12:51 pm
You might look into one of the note-taking softwares like SpringPad. You can write notes on the smartphone & it syncs, automagically, with the internet where you can read it at work or home. Works really well.
Actually, wish I had one of these for all those sessions at PASS. I only have some sheets of paper that I scribbled notes on 😀
Ken
November 19, 2010 at 4:08 pm
Tobar (11/19/2010)
I agree that the phones can make you more efficient. My question is do they need to? If you are more efficient does that mean you will go home earlier? Kiss your spouse sooner? Play with the kids faster? Or does it just mean you will start the next task sooner. I use to approach life as trying to be as efficient as possible. Eventually I figured out life wasn't created with efficiency in mind. Life was created for living. I think the new WinMo commercials are very poignant. The mother ignoring her toddler while she checks her phone.Steve, I realize my comments and the comments of others isn't answering the question you asked. Sorry. Maybe you asked the wrong question. :unsure: 😛
Ok, in answer to your question. Yes. But maybe that is not the point.
Good question, and I'll answer for me. These devices let me work when I need to be on the move. That might mean taking a phone call or answering email while I'm waiting to pick up kids, or even when we're out because I left work early to spend time with family.
If a device is an additional tether on top of a long day, that's an issue. If it lets you flex your time around, then I think it helps.
November 19, 2010 at 4:20 pm
We recently got a mobile app in house from Rove. It piggy backs on the secure Blackberry network so no VPN connection is needed. You can run cmd, powershell, RDP, SSMS, and a pretty much everything else. I haven't used RDP yet because I assume it's terrible but I have used SSMS to fix a few production issues. For quick fixes it beats booting up a laptop and logging into a VPN despite the smaller screen size.
November 20, 2010 at 2:09 pm
Personally, I love my smart phone for work. Right now, I'm sitting at my desk catching up on my email, while waiting for a server upgrade to finish. My IPhone is connected to the office wifi network, and has an RDP session open into the server so I can watch what's happening without needing to switch back and forth between my local desktop and and server desktop. When I get to the stage where a real keyoard and mouse will be useful, I'll simply log in from the windows RDP client, and take over the session.
I use the phone all the time to make entries into my time sheet, and often use it for email when I'm out of the office. If I'm at a clients site, and need to check on information for a quote, I have access to the company intranet which hosts all our applications, via VPN over the edge network, so I don't have to find a desk with a spare network cable to plug in, or get WIFI credentials.
If I'm on the floor doing support, I can always use the phone to test the wifi connection, or ping a troublesome machine without needing to evict another use from their desk, or walk across the building to my workstation.
I've found that the smartphone has taken over a lot of the duties that my old laptop used to perform. I always have the laptop with me, but it's usually locked in my car, or the server room because I rarely need it when I'm onsite. The only time I use it now is if I'm on the road and get an emergency call and need to log into the office network for a task that requires more than a few key presses or mouse clicks.
November 22, 2010 at 11:02 am
It sounds like there are a lot of people on here that are anti-smart phone…but for me it’s the greatest thing ever invented. I know someone else mentioned while their children were young they missed out on a lot and regretted it, being a dba and always being on call so did I but with the smart phone I no longer have to. I can step away from the office to go see my kid play football for a couple of hours in the afternoon and still be able to check and answer email. If something goes wrong at the office my Jr DBA can email me an error message from a log file or screen shot of an message and I can advise them on what to do or how to start trouble shooting and I don’t have to rush back in. Yeah, It may actually increase my hrs sometimes because technically I’m working if I’m at the football game advising, but I don’t care. I got to see my kid play and love the idea of having a flexible schedule, so what if I have to back in for a couple of hours later. I love the fact that I can answer email while I’m getting ready in the morning and be caught up by the time I arrive into the office. I’m also in a lot of meetings -sometimes half the day. Without the smart phone my Jr DBA would be constantly interrupting the meetings to pull me out. Now they can just text me if they have questions and I can even send them links to articles or websites. My kids can text me when they need something instead of calling me on my phone and interrupting my work day with a 10 min conversation.
There are also tons of apps for smartphones you can use to make your life easier at work. I have an app that keeps track of all my servers, their ip addresses, functions…I’ve got all that info right at my fingertips.
The best was, my son got pulled over the other day and couldn’t find his insurance card…I was able to pull up my auto insurance policy on my iphone from the insurance company’s website and emailed him the “virtual card” in a matter of 5 minutes while I was walking around the office working. Do that with a regular phone…
Thanks!
November 22, 2010 at 11:18 am
Anti smart phone? No, I'm not sure that's true.
Anti snake oil? Yes, indeedy. Anti bells and whistles for their own sake? Absolutely. Anti fixing the symptom instead of the cause? Oh, yeah.
There have been arguments both for and against smart phone usage, but every convincing one on either side has dwelt on what the device can offer that person in their own set of circumstances. And that's as it should be; as long as we start with what we want to achieve and then look at tools which may help us in that quest, we're approaching things in the right order. However, just because a tool appears to help efficiency doesn't necessarily mean it delivers, and all the dissenters I've seen in this thread have questioned the "obvious" and concluded smart phones don't offer value to them at the moment. That's not anti smart phone; it's practical and sensible evaluation.
If a smart phone works for you, use it. If it doesn't, don't. Just don't make your decision on gadget counts and sexy looks.
Semper in excretia, suus solum profundum variat
November 22, 2010 at 12:50 pm
"WayneS (11/19/2010)
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Grant Fritchey (11/19/2010)
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I've fixed production issues remotely using a smart phone while I was at a user group meeting. Was I distracted for five minutes? Yep, but it was only five minutes. I didn't get up out of my chair or bother the people sitting next to me, let alone have to leave the meeting.
JP Dakota (11/19/2010)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. I have some custom apps that streamline mundane tasks.
Okay, Grant and JP:
What tools/apps do you have on your devices that allow you to do this? What all was involved in getting/using them?
I've been using Idera's Remote Manager. Works pretty well. don't RDP. You'll want to shoot yourself.
I'm looking at some other stuff now. Red Gate has a new Monitoring tool. I can't say much about it yet, just cause I don't know."
Sorry I didn't get back to this the other day. For my work phone I have an app that accesses our CRM tool. I can enter data directly in to it (by speaking - don't even have to type). I can reference customer info, view inventory available, administrate the CRM tool, and most importantly know when its down. Also, since the op/sys is WinMo I can use Windows tools. Grant is right - RDP will make you crazy with the lack of speed.
My personal phone is a Droid X. It, of course, is open source. I write little apps for it all the time. I've had to factory reset it a couple of times. 😀
November 22, 2010 at 1:11 pm
Grant & JP: I want to thank both of you for responding back. I hadn't been that interested before; now that I can see how it could be helpful, you'll have sparked an interest.
Wayne
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server 2008
Author - SQL Server T-SQL Recipes
November 22, 2010 at 3:15 pm
I just don't ever want to be that "productive". Down-time is very important to me.
--Jeff Moden
Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.
November 22, 2010 at 3:41 pm
Jeff Moden (11/22/2010)
I just don't ever want to be that "productive". Down-time is very important to me.
Yes, but I refer back to what Steve posted above:
If a device is an additional tether on top of a long day, that's an issue. If it lets you flex your time around, then I think it helps.
Wayne
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server 2008
Author - SQL Server T-SQL Recipes
November 22, 2010 at 3:59 pm
Down-time is very important to me too.
November 22, 2010 at 6:51 pm
Jeff Moden (11/22/2010)
I just don't ever want to be that "productive". Down-time is very important to me.
What is this "down-time" of which you speak?
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
- Theodore Roosevelt
Author of:
SQL Server Execution Plans
SQL Server Query Performance Tuning
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