DBA resolutions

New Year's resolution's for a DBA

According to wikipedia, "A New Year's resolution is a tradition, most common in the Western Hemisphere but also found in the Eastern Hemisphere,

in which a person makes a promise to do an act of self-improvement...."

I’m not a particular resolutions making kind of person - I don’t think you have to wait until a new year begins to resolve to do something meaningful, but I though it would be interesting to look at some specifically aimed at DBA's.

These are based on the subjects I have touched on in previous blogs, as well as interesting articles I have read during the year (they are a mixture of personal and work goals).

• Stay curious and open to new opportunities. DBA's are expected to know everything about everything. Enjoy Technology.

• Embrace Change - change is inevitable. Roll with the punches, stay positive and do the best with what is given to you. 

• Maintain a Professional approach - it basically boils down to showing respect for others. 

• Accept Responsibility - if you mess up, fess up.

• Be realistic in terms of expectations. Things will not always work out as planned.  Every job has its good and bad points. Don't become the office whiner.

• Continue teaching developers how to work with databases. This is a win / win as the result will be better code which works with the database instead of against it.   

• Try and attend tech related events / conferences during the year. They are great ways to learn and also can help build your network.

• Learn at least one new skill during 2016. Be it a new language, a new technology or perhaps work towards a certification. Don't worry about the state of the economy, concentrate on learning new skills. If the worst happens and you get laid off, the time you invested in improving your skills will make finding a new position much easier.

• Avoid Office Politics - try not to be drawn into the games of office politics. This is a no win situation and the only outcome will be to create enemies and cause unnecessary division.

• Work on Communication Skills - the most valuable skill that someone in technology can have is the ability to communicate with others. It does not matter which area of IT you are in - it is so important that you are able to clearly express what you want, need, or expect.

• Build your Online Brand - create a website or contribute to forums and newsgroups. Don't forget to keep you social network accounts up to date (CV, etc).

• Write a blog!  It is a quick and easy way to begin sharing your knowledge and information. Keep it fresh and current.

• Very importantly, try to ensure you have the right work / life balance.

Feel free to choose one or more (or none) from the above to add to your own list.

Which ever resolutions you chose try to remember to keep them specific, realistic and attainable.

They can be small or large but hopefully they can be achieved with the necessary planning and work. 

Notes:

Some New Year's Resolutions for DBAs  - DbaPortal

What should a DBA do - XAPRB

The toughest thing for independents saying no - brentozar

The basics of personal branding - brentozar

Just say no - sqlservercentral

Building better communication skills - sqlservercentral

The Change Management Paradox

Agile Change Management

According to ITIL the goal of the change management function is to ensure that ..

"all the changes that need to be made to IT infrastructure and services to be performed and implemented correctly by ensuring standard procedures are followed."

Having a robust Change Management process ensures that changes are:

•     justified.

•     carried out without jeopardizing IT service quality.

•     properly recorded, classified and documented.

•     have been carefully tested in a test environment.

•     are recorded in the CMDB.

•     can be undone by running back-out plans / procedures.

               

However implementing an appropriate change management policy can also run into difficulties:

For instance, if excessively restrictive procedures are adopted or the change process is trivialized then this could potentially result in insufficient stability or lead to poor quality service to users / customers.

If this approach is taken by the change management team it could be viewed by the wider IT team as excessively restrictive and overtly bureaucratic. This in turn could potentially lead to the process not been taken seriously, which would undoubtedly result in poor compliance.

All organizations deal with the change process in different ways, some have restrictive and limiting change management, while others use comparatively permissive methodologies. The keys is in determining what is the appropriate risk that should be tolerated.

As more development teams embrace the Agile methodology for the Software Development Life Cycle, this is of little use, in terms of speed of delivery, unless the change management process also adapts and employs a more suitable agile approach.

If the change team do not themselves embrace change then there will be a widening gap between the amount of change the developers need to stay Agile versus the change management's ability to conform to the standards for documentation, quality assurance and risk assessment needed to adequately protect a production environment.

Change management is one of the most important processes within the Technology team. Any organization will experience a large number of changes in order to accommodate new business requirements, to correct faults, or for other various reasons. All changes have the potential to disrupt a business, hence controlling the release of changes is critical. However it is also one of the most difficult areas to find the right balance between protecting the business, whilst also ensuring that there is the appropriate flexibility to allow the business to efficiently develop a continuous stream of new software capabilities.

There is a fine line between securing the production environment while also ensuring that changes can take place in line with policy - quickly, efficiently, but most importantly successfully and with the least amount of bureaucracy and unnecessary barriers.

  

Wikipedia - Change management (ITSM)

Andrew Simon - Striving for 'Agile' Change Management'

Level 3 - Can ITIL be Agile?