The Social Web

Look Mom, I’m famous….

Well, moderately well-known 😛

I had the pleasure of being a guest on Andy Leonard and Frank LaVigne‘s podcast, Data Driven.  I was originally going to talk about #SQLFamily, Azure DataFest, and community life in general, but the topic quickly changed in light of the Azure outage on the day we recorded it (9/4/2018).  So we rambled on, joked a lot, threw in some 80’s pop culture references, and generally had a good time. Give it a listen on your favorite podcasting app.

Hopefully this will inspire me to find time to write more.  We touched on a lot of ideas, but didn’t really dive very deeply into any of them.  I need to stop DOING, and WRITE IT DOWN (that’s a variant of the advice I give my team).

 

 

#Azure DataFest Sessions I want to see: @sqlgator #Cortana and #PowerBI

There are still plenty of seats left for the inaugural #AtlantaAzureDataFest2018, so I thought I’d try to drum up some interest by posting about a few of the sessions I really want to see.  First up, Ed Watson‘s session: “With Power BI and Cortana, You Can Take Over the World”.

I love the thought of integrating voice control with reporting; have no clue what that means, but it definitely satisfies the whimsical nature of this conference. Let’s build something together just because we can, not necessarily because it satisfies a need.  Ed is a crazy fun presenter to watch (and a good friend).  I’m excited to see him push the envelope a bit.

Join us!  Seats start at $50 for two days of jam-packed training on Aug 16-17th, 2018.  Tell your boss you’re being forward-thinking; they love that.

 

Using @AnyDo for tasklist management

Trying to stay in the habit of writing, and this seemed like a quick post, so here goes; I’m not really in the habit of writing product reviews, but I’ve found this one to be useful, so I thought I’d share.

Task management is something I’ve always struggled with; I’ve tried various systems from Trello to LeanKit to Kanbanflow, and they’re hard for me to use consistently. At work, I use a homegrown SSRS report connected to our helpdesk system as a kanban board, but it’s clunky for ad-hoc requests. It takes way too many clicks to create a ticket for a simple to-do item like “set up a meeting”.

I recently got an Amazon Echo Dot (and later a Tap), and I was intrigued by the to-do list functionality; suddenly it became quite easy to jot down a quick task for either business or personal work. I just shouted out “Alexa! Add do something awesome to my to-do list”, and was immediately gratified with a task appearing in the Alexa app on my iPhone. Excellent. Except for when I was away from my desk (and my Echo Dot). I could open the Alexa app and add a task item manually, but typing seems so old school. And then I remember, Siri could do reminders too. Guess what? Integration with Any.Do.

Long story short, I can now manage nearly all of my to-do items by voice. If I have a brilliant idea while sitting at my desk, I ask Alexa to note it for me. In the car? Siri’s my friend. The beauty is that they both go to the same repository in Any Do, and I can mark them as completed as I knock them out. The only downside is that the app places them in different lists, but I can view them in one combined list (see screenshots below).

Visibility is only part of the battle; organization is equally important. One of the features that I really like about this product is the “Plan My Day” option. Basically, if you have several tasks scheduled for today, you can run a little wizard to cycle through all of them and decide if they’re really going to get done today (or not), and schedule them accordingly:

I try to keep it to 3 tasks a day; this gives me the flexibility of responding to issues as they come up, and still feeling like I’m getting somewhere. I usually add more tasks as I work, but if I finish with a clean slate (three planned + x unplanned), it’s a good day.  Lots more features to explore, including calendar integration, subtasks, and task assignments, but I try to keep it simple. I’ve been pleased with how well the voice integration works, and how natural it is to manage my to-do list now.

Geek Sync: #DevOps, the Cloud Paradigm, and the Microsoft Data Platform

I’m pleased to announce that I’ll be presenting a Geek Sync webinar (hosted by Idera) to talk about what I see as the evolution of the DBA in light of movements like DevOps and the Cloud Paradigm.  Registration’s free, so please feel free to join on January 25, 2017 at 12:00 EST.

The Future of the DBA: DevOps, the Cloud Paradigm, and the Microsoft Data Platform

We’re on the cusp of exciting times for database development and administration; data storage is set to explode in volume over the next 5 years by as much as 500%. Companies are struggling to manage traditional relational databases and several forms of Big Data, including dark, binary, and streaming data. New theories of development, administration, and data management have matured, but what impact do they have on DBA’s? What are the concepts and skills needed for future career growth? In the (paraphrased) words of Dr. Seuss:

“Oh, the places you’ll go!
You have brains in your head
And SQL Skills to boot
You’ll soar to great heights
On the Data Platform, too”

Join IDERA and Stuart R. Ainsworth as we explore how DevOps and the Cloud Paradigm have developed to address modern software delivery challenges. We’ll also examine how the Microsoft Data Platform provides a framework for career enhancement for SQL Server professionals.

Stuart Ainsworth (MA, MEd) is an IT manager working in financial information security. Over the past 20 years, he’s worked as a research analyst, a report writer, a DBA, a programmer, and a public speaking professor. He’s a chapter leader for AtlantaMDF, the SQL Server user group in Atlanta, as well as a speaker at SQLSaturdays, PASS Summit, code camps, and user groups.

REGISTER NOW

 

 

Upcoming presentations

Been really freaking busy the last few months, so I haven’t had the chance to share the news of a few upcoming presentations:

On October 10, I’ll be presenting at the Orlando SQLSaturday, doing my session on a DBA’s guide to Hadoop.  I’ll be representing that session at the Professional Association for SQL Server Summit in Seattle (October 27-30).

Brief service announcement is over; now I can say I’ve blogged recently.

2014 Year In Review

Finally finding some time to sit down and write this post; of course I’m squeezing it in after work, and before my wife and son come home, so there’s no telling how far I’ll get. This post is probably best treated as a stream of consciousness effort, rather than my usual agonizing over every word. 2014 was a mixed bag of a year; lots of good stuff, and lots of not-so-good stuff; I’ll try to start with the good:

2014 Professional Highs

As I’ve mentioned before, I was promoted to management in my day job a few years ago; in October of 2014, my kingdom expanded. Instead of managing a team of SQL Server DBA’s, my department was consolidated with another small group, and I now manage the IT infrastructure for our Product Group. It’s not a huge jump, but it is an opportunity for me to get involved with more than just SQL Server and databases; I’m now managing a team of sysadmins as well, so I’m getting a crash course on virtualization, server administration, and networking. It’s been fun, but a bit challenging.

I haven’t neglected my SQL Server roots, however; I presented to over a dozen user groups & SQL Saturdays last year (which is a lot for full-time desk jockey). I ultimately delivered two killer presentations at Summit in November, which boosted my confidence tremendously after 2013’s less-than-stellar performance. Blogging was steady for me (23 posts on my blog), but I did have a chance to write a piece on Pinal Dave’s blog (Journey to SQL Authority); that was a great opportunity, and one I hope to explore more. In addition to blogging and community activity, I also finally passed the second test in the MCSA: SQL Server 2012 series (Administration; 70-462). I’m studying for the last test (Data Warehouse; 70-463), and then I need to start getting some virtualization certs under my belt.

Finally, a big professional step forward for me was that I became a Linchpin (part-time); I’ve had a great deal of respect for this team of SQL Server professionals over the years, and I was very blessed to be able to step in and help on a few projects this year. I’m hoping for more. It’s a great way to test the waters, even if I’m not ready to dive into full-time consulting yet.

2014 Professional Lows

I got nominated for Microsoft MVP (twice); I didn’t get it (twice).

 

2014 Personal Highs

Big year for travel for my wife and I; we went to Jamaica and Vancouver, as well as Nashville, Chattanooga, St. Louis, Charlotte, Seattle, Hilton Head, Myrtle Beach, and Ponte Vedra. We saw two killer shows: George Strait and Fleetwood Mac; I also got to see one of my favorite bands, The Old 97’s. Our son turned a year old, and it’s been a lot of fun watching him grown and discover new things. 2014 was a year of joy in a lot of ways….

2014 Personal Lows

2014 was also a year of sorrow for me; if you follow me on Facebook, you know how proud I am of my son. What became less well-known is that I have two teenage daughters from my previous marriage; they turned 17 and 15 this year. In September of 2013, my daughters decided that they didn’t want to spend as much time with me and their stepmother. Over the last year, I’ve had to come to terms with the fact that my daughters aren’t planning on changing that any time soon, and they have no desire to have a relationship with their brother. That’s a pain that I’ll never get over; I love all of my children, and all I can do is pray that someday things will change. The only reason I feel compelled to mention it publically is that I don’t want them to become invisible; I have three children, even if I don’t get to see two of them very often. I also feel like I’ve reached a turning point; I was VERY depressed last year because of this situation, and I’m ready to move forward in 2015.

 

Summary

2014 was more good than bad, but I’m looking forward to 2015. I’ve always believed that you should play the hand you’re dealt, and make the most of it. Life is good, and it’s only getting better.

 

 

 

#SQLPASS–Data Professionals?

So, in my last post, I described the financial pressures of community building; two companies benefit from building a community organization.  I’ve tried to stay away from assumptions, but I am assuming that their influence must factor into the Board of Directors’ decision making process (Microsoft has a seat on the board; C&C is dependent on the decisions that the BoD makes).  The metrics that matter most to Microsoft are the breadth of people interested in their product line, not the depth of knowledge attained by those people.

Influence isn’t a bad thing per se, but in my mind, it does explain why good people continue to make bad decisions, regardless of who gets elected to the board.   What do I mean by a bad decision?  In general, the Professional Association for SQL Server BoD remains a non-committal and opaque organization.  Board members have personally promised me that “they would look into something”, and yet the follow-thru never materialized; the opacity of the decision making process is documented by other other bloggers in posts like the following:

http://www.sqlservercentral.com/blogs/steve_jones/2010/06/30/pass_2C00_-don_1920_t-waste-my-time/

https://ozar.me/2014/09/bigger-passvotes-problem-password-shared/

http://sqlblog.com/blogs/andy_leonard/archive/2014/06/27/pass-and-summit-2014-session-selections.aspx

SIDEBAR: I will say that the Board continues to work on the transparency problem; Jen Stirrup and Tom LaRock have both stepped forward to explain decisions made.  However, such explanations are usually given after a controversy has occurred.

For a specific example, I want to focus on the branding decision (the decision to remove SQL Server from marketing material for the Professional Association of SQL Server and to be know simply as PASS); the decision to move the organization away from its lingua franca of SQL Server to a new common language of “all things (Microsoft) data” is not in and of itself a bad thing.  Recent marketing trends from Microsoft indicate that the traditional role of the DBA is continuing to evolve; as individuals, we need to evolve as well.

However, as database professionals (or data professionals), we should be inclined to make decisions based on data.  As Jen Stirrup herself says:

I think it’s important to have a data-based, fact based look at the business analytics sphere generally. What does the industry say about where the industry is going? What does the data say? We can then look at how PASS fits in with this direction.

Jen’s post goes on to state some great statistics about the nature of the industry as a whole, but then uses some less concrete measures (growth of the BA/BI Virtual Chapters) to identify support within the organization.  I generally agree with her conclusions, but I’m concerned about several unanswered questions, most of them stemming from two numbers:

  • Association marketing materials claim we have reached over 100,000 professionals, and
  • 11,305 members were eligible to vote (a poor measure of involvement, but does indicate recent interaction).

I look at those two numbers and wonder why that gap is there; just for simplicity’s sake, let’s say that 90% of “members” have not updated their profile.  Why?  What could the Association have done to reach those members?  Who are those members?   What are their interests?  What’s a better metric for gauging active membership?

Of course, once I start asking questions, I begin to ask more questions: How many members don’t fit into Microsoft’s vision of cloud-based computing?   How many members use multiple technologies from the Microsoft data analysis stack? What skills should they be taught?  What skills do they have?  What features do they want?  The short answer: we don’t know.

As far as I know, there has been no large scale data collection effort by the Board of Directors to help guide their decisions; in the absence of data, good managers make a decision based on experience, but then strive to collect data to help with future decisions.  Continuing to rely on experience and marketing materials without investing in understanding member concern, desires, and input is simply put, a bad decision.

Shifting an organization that shared a common love for a particular technology to an organization that is more generally interested in data is a huge undertaking; overlooking the role that the community should have in determining the path of that transition is an oversight.   I don’t think the Professional Association for SQL Server is going to revert back to a technology-specific focus; that would be inconsistent with the changing nature of our profession.  However, the Board needs to continue to understand who the membership is, and how the organization can help a huge number of SQL Server professionals transition to “data professionals”.   Building a bigger umbrella may help the organization grow; investing in existing community members will help the organization succeed.

#SQLPASS–Good people, bad behavior…

I’ve written and rewritten this post in my mind 100 times over the last couple of weeks, and I still don’t think it’s right.  However, I feel the need to speak up on the recent controversies brewing with the Professional Association for SQL Server’s BoD.  Frankly, as I’ve read most of the comments and discussions regarding the recent controversies (over the change in name, the election communication issues, and the password issues), my mind keeps wandering back to my time on the NomCom.

In 2010, when I served on the NomCom, I was excited to contribute to the electoral process; that excitement turned to panic and self-justification when I took a stance on the defensive side of a very unpopular decision.  I’m not trying to drag up a dead horse (mixed metaphor, I know), but I started out standing in a spot that I still believe is right:

The volunteers for the Professional Association of SQL Server serve with integrity.

Our volunteers act with best intentions, even when the outcomes of their decisions don’t sit well with the community at large.  However, we humans are often flawed in our fundamental attributions. When WE make a mistake, it’s because of the situation we are in; when somebody else makes a mistake, we tend to blame them.  We need to move past that, and start questioning decisions while empathizing with the people making those decisions.

In my case, feeling defensive as I read comments about “the NomCom’s lack of integrity” and conspiracy theories about the BoD influencing our decision, I moved from defending good people to defending a bad decision.  This is probably the first time that I’ve publically admitted this, but I believe that we in the NomCom made a mistake; I think that Steve Jones would have probably made a good Director.  Our intention was good, but something was flawed in our process.

However, this blog post is NOT about 2010; it’s about now.  I’ve watched as the Board of Directors continue to make bad decisions (IMO; separate blog forthcoming about decisions I think are bad ones), and some people have questioned their professionalism.  Others have expressed anger, while some suggest that we should put it all behind us and come together.  All of these responses are healthy as long as they separate the decisions made from the people making them, and that we figure out ways to make positive changes.  Good people make mistakes; good people talk about behaviors, and work to address them.

So, how do we work to address them?  The first step is admitting that there’s a problem, and it’s not the people.  Why am I convinced that it’s not the people?  Because every year we elect new people to the board, and every year there’s some fresh controversy brewing.  Changing who gets elected to the board doesn’t seem to seem to stimulate transparency or proactive communication with the community (two of the biggest issues with the Professional Association for SQL Server’s BoD).  In short, the system is not malleable enough to be influenced by good people.

I don’t really have a way to sum this post up; I wish I did.  All I know is that I’m inspired by the people who want change, and it saddens me that change seems to be stunted regardless of who gets elected.  Something’s gotta give at some point.

*************
Addendum: you may have noticed that I use the organization’s full legal name when referring to the Professional Association for SQL Server.  Think of it as my own (admittedly petty) response to the “we’re changing the name, but keeping our focus” decision.

A tiny step in the right direction #SQLPASS

Ah, summertime; time for the annual “community crisis” for the Professional Association for SQL Server.  I’ve tried to stay clear of controversies for the last couple of years, but it’s very hard to be a member of such a passionate group of professionals and not have an opinion of the latest subject d’jour.   The short form of the crisis is that there’s questions about how and why sessions get selected to present at the highly competitive Summit this year (disclaimer: I got selected to present this year).  For more details, here’s a few blog posts on the subject:

The point of my post is not to rehash the issue or sway your opinion, dear reader, but rather to focus on a single tiny step in the right direction that I’ve decided to make.  One of the big issues that struck me about the whole controversy is the lack of a repeatable objective tool for speaker evaluations.  As a presenter, I don’t always get feedback, and when I do, the feedback form varies from event to event, meeting to meeting.  Selection committees are forced to rely on my abstract-writing skills and/or my reputation as a presenter; you can obfuscate my identity on the abstract, but it’s tough to factor in reputation if do that.

While I agree that there are questions about the process that should be asked and ultimately answered, there’s very little that I can do to make a difference in the way sessions get selected.  However, as a presenter, and a chapter leader for one of the largest chapters in the US, I can do a little something.

  1. I am personally committing to listing every presentation I make on SpeakerRate.com, and soliciting feedback on every presentation.  To quote Bleachers, “I wanna get better”.
  2. I will personally encourage every presenter at AtlantaMDF to set up a profile and evaluation at SpeakerRate for all presentations going forward.
  3. We will find ways to make feedback electronic and immediate at the upcoming Atlanta SQLSaturday so that presenters can use that information going forward.
  4. I will champion the evaluation process with my chapter members and speakers, and continue to seek out methods to improve and standardize the feedback process.

Do I have all of the right answers? No.  For example, SpeakerRate.com seems to be barely holding on to life; no mobile interface, and a lack of commitment from its members seems to indicate that the site is dying a slow death.  However, I haven’t found an alternative to provide a standard, uniform measure of presentation performance.

Do I think this will provide a major change to the PASS Summit selection?  Nope.  But I do think that a sea change has to start somewhere, and if enough local chapters get interested in a building a culture of feedback and evaluation, that could begin to flow up to the national level.

#passvotes Why I voted for Allen Kinsel–three times….

I’m a little late with this endorsement, in part because I debated whether or not that I should admit that I’m a serial voter.  In case you haven’t heard, PASS is holding it’s elections for the Board of Directors again; ballots went out on Wednesday, September 25 to “all members in good standing as of June 2013”.  Apparently, I’m a member thrice over, since I received three ballots at three different email addresses.

This has happened in every PASS election that I can remember, and I’ve always taken the moral high ground before, casting one vote and ignoring the other two; however, this time is different.  It’s different because Allen Kinsel’s on the ballot.

Lots of people have lots of good things to say about Allen, so I won’t rehash those; however, the thing that swayed me to vote for him (multiple times) was the following bullet point from his platform page:

    • Making an additional IT investment to bring PASS’s membership roster up-to-date. Updating the roster will allow PASS to have better knowledge of our worldwide membership and to provide members with better benefits.

Allen wants to update the database, and clean it up.  As a database professional, data integrity appeals to me; it’s a little sad that my professional organization has dirty data, and is relying on that dirty data to make key business decisions (like generating ballots).   So this time, I decided to leverage all of my electoral power and cast all of my votes for Allen because I believe he’s going to try and do something to prevent this from happening in the future.

I know; it seems wrong for me to cast three votes, but I figure I’m not the only one with multiple ballots.  Maybe some other members of the organization don’t have the same moral hesitation about “pulling the lever” at every opportunity.  Perhaps some devious prankster has registered 500 email addresses, and is slowly stealing the election away.  All I know is that this should change, and Allen’s the only candidate which has mentioned this as a priority.

Vote.