June 20, 2008 at 7:58 am
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The Back Door DBA
Brad M. McGehee
DBA
June 20, 2008 at 8:07 am
Well, I have two choices for entering the building, the front door, or the other front door. Either way, all I usually get on the way to my desk is a lot of "hello" and "good morning". I don't drink coffee, and usually already have enough sugar in my blood by the time I arrive, so that's not a problem for me. (My commute is about five minutes. I'm still digesting breakfast when I arrive.) But on the point of checking servers and statuses first, yeah, definitely. E-mail second, definitely.
- Gus "GSquared", RSVP, OODA, MAP, NMVP, FAQ, SAT, SQL, DNA, RNA, UOI, IOU, AM, PM, AD, BC, BCE, USA, UN, CF, ROFL, LOL, ETC
Property of The Thread
"Nobody knows the age of the human race, but everyone agrees it's old enough to know better." - Anon
June 20, 2008 at 8:31 am
Heh... You're not really a DBA unless you know those tricks. 😀 You also have to know the king of tricks to get your morning chores done without interuption... Learn how to very seriously say... "Please, not now... I'm on a production problem." 😛
--Jeff Moden
Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.
June 20, 2008 at 8:54 am
Tip 1 - Once again, I feel obligated to post this:
http://www.fourhourworkweek.com
one of the best tips I ever took from this book was putting a voicemail and email message stating that you would be checking these items twice a day, and not during any other time. If someone needs you, you give them an out by telling them for critical items only they can call your cell.
Then you schedule those times that you check email NOT to be first thing in the morning, but say 10 am and 3pm.
**NOTE** you're doing this on your own, not asking permission to do it. Better to beg forgiveness than ask permission. If you don't train your coworkers to leave you alone, nobody will. If you don't feel comfortable leaving the message out there, try just doing it without telling people you're doing it.
This tip is worth it's weight in gold, if for nothing other than the stress relief from not having to read email every second, plus the fact that "problems" miraculously seem to disappear as people realize they are not critical.
You will be able to focus on your job, which will take care of any critical problems anyway (because you're all talented DBAs who monitor your servers accordingly).
Tip 2 - respond to voicemail by email. Always try to steer folks to email first, then voicemail, then meeting in person, in order of preference.
Tip 3 - do not attend meetings that do not have agendas defined before hand. If you have to, beg off with your supervisor, telling them that "just this once" you'll skip, because you have mission-critical work to do; train them to be more efficient.
Tip 4 - meetings don't have to be in person, and most likely will not be less effective because they are not. Email loses some syntax, but phone conferences work just fine, and you can work through them on mute.
Tip 5 - If you absolutely have to answer the phone or respond to a 'space invader' at your desk, cut them short by using one of these tactics: 1) meet them in the doorway as you see them coming 2) tell them you're in the middle of something, and only have a minute (whether you are or not) 3) tell them you're glad they came over, because you need them to do something for you. Rather quickly, they'll quit showing up unless necessary, because they won't want extra work.
If I think of other Machiavellian tips, I'll post them, but these work remarkably well. 😀
---------------------------------------------------------
How best to post your question[/url]
How to post performance problems[/url]
Tally Table:What it is and how it replaces a loop[/url]
"stewsterl 80804 (10/16/2009)I guess when you stop and try to understand the solution provided you not only learn, but save yourself some headaches when you need to make any slight changes."
June 20, 2008 at 8:59 am
As I'm usually the first IT person in each morning, I go directly into the server room (first door on the right after entering the office, so I guess it's not really "back door"). It's perfect because I don't pass anyone or any desks. My true reason for that path is to listen for any beeping servers, look for red lights on drives (hot swappables are great!) or lack of air conditioning. Since I'm secluded from all non-IT employees I sit at a console in the server room and check my logs - uninterrupted - and respond to any issues accordingly. Once done, I being the trek to my desk (I don't drink coffee either) and the inevitable chats/complaints along the way, check emails/voicemails and my day has officially begun. The few minutes of solitude in the server room usually provides a stress-free start to my day or allows me to deal with urgent matters without further interruptions. Not a bad deal!
-- You can't be late until you show up.
June 20, 2008 at 11:18 am
And if you don't group emails by sender (I don't), be sure that you read from the newest to oldest. I've often found a note that something critical needed a response and then another note later that says ignore the first note. Or that someone else has fixed it.
If you work from oldest to newest emails, before you respond to something like that, check and see if there's an update.
I'm a bit of a maverick. I let my boss know when things go well, and I'm always late. So I walk in, people see me, it's part of who I am. I let them know I check email before I leave home, if they need me, call. Never worried about sneaking in the back door.
June 20, 2008 at 1:40 pm
I had forgotten about this piece of advice. I can remember many times not following it, and I ended up wasting my time.
Steve Jones - Editor (6/20/2008)
And if you don't group emails by sender (I don't), be sure that you read from the newest to oldest. I've often found a note that something critical needed a response and then another note later that says ignore the first note. Or that someone else has fixed it.
Brad M. McGehee
DBA
June 20, 2008 at 1:49 pm
on seeing the date on Brads editorial, it seems the best way to save time is to do your work 3 days into the future.:D
---------------------------------------------------------------------
June 20, 2008 at 1:53 pm
I have a specialized DBA version of the "flux capacitator" installed in my Honda. 😛
george sibbald (6/20/2008)
on seeing the date on Brads editorial, it seems the best way to save time is to do your work 3 days into the future.:D
Brad M. McGehee
DBA
June 23, 2008 at 3:13 am
Firstly, always check your e-mail. My boss is hands on and often works weekends and will proactively fix things she needs over the weekend.
Monday morning checks often cover routine items. Write a stored procedure to do these for you and produce a report. You can run this while you're getting a coffee and when you get back you'll have the answers to your questions in front of you.
Stewart
June 23, 2008 at 4:50 am
I think what Brad is saying is ok for small companies where there is one or two DBA's, but most times its not a good idea with large companies where you have a team of DBA's.
Large companies are always looking at cutting back, therefore if you fix all the problems before they happen, in the eyes of the company you do not exists, which means you are in effect redundant.
From my experience I have found that the more problems there are the more money/resources are available to the DBA team.
June 23, 2008 at 5:40 am
Nothing beats this like arriving before anyone else. I get at least a half hour of peace in the morning and leave a bit earlier than most also. This gives me a chance to enjoy the evening a bit longer.
Ed
June 23, 2008 at 6:16 am
Last week in the editorial forum we had a discussion about the core skills needed by a DBA. I guess we need to add "ability to read the server log" to the list...
You can't beat getting in early. Whether you discover problems after they're reported in email or by reading the logs, it seems there is nothing like being on top of problems before management even gets in that does wonders for your reputation. I've had several times where someone important calls asking, "did you know users are getting an error message?" - Being able to respond that you're already on top of it and well along the way to fixing the problem gets some very nice nods from the boss.
___________________________________________________
“Politicians are like diapers. They both need changing regularly and for the same reason.”
June 23, 2008 at 6:23 am
I get into work at 7AM. That gives me a good hour and a half before other people start coming in. It's the only way I know to get a solid period of time uninterrupted.
"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
June 23, 2008 at 6:43 am
This article is bang on and definitely strikes a chord with me. I have used all these suggestions at various points in my career.
My favourite is "Come in to work extra early, and leave on time." That way I get chance to fix any overnight issues before the majority of the users arrive, avoiding system downtime during official working hours. Plus as a side effect one is seen as being keen (always in early) and efficient (gets the job done and is able to leave on time) while still being reliable and conscientious.
Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 45 total)
You must be logged in to reply to this topic. Login to reply