Tuesday, May 8, 2012

T-SQL Tuesday #30 TOP 5 Rules for the SQL Community *Screw Ethics


Chris Shaw (@SQLShaw|Blog) is hosting T-SQL Tuesday this month.  It has been a while since I participated and this month sounded really interesting.  So time to dust off the keyboard and get back in!  So Chris What are we writing on?

For this month’s t-sql Tuesday question I wanted to highlight the need for Ethics in our industry.  Don’t consumers and business owners have to trust someone at some time with their data?  This month, take time to participate by talking about DBA ethics.  I really hope to see someone address topics such as:
·         Should we have an ethics statement?
·         Have ethics issues impacted you? What did you do about it?
·         Security Audits: how do you police what you and others are doing in the database?
·         Does a Code of Ethics mean anything to anyone? How do we as a community enforce a Code of Ethics?
·         Do you have an issue with this Code of Ethics?
·         What do you believe our Code of Ethics should say if we the SQL Server Community have one?

I think this is a good topic, and should produce a lot of interesting reading.  But Dear Reader allow me to begin with a bit of a Rant.

ETHICS ARE DEAD!  LONG LIVE ETHICS

Screw Business Ethics.

“Balls,” you say, “SCREW ETHICS?!?!?”

I understand your outrage Dear Reader, allow me to explain.

 I think Ethics may be an over-used word.  We all want something deep reaching and soul searching that will put us on the same level.  That will guide us to say this is right and this is wrong, but Ethics has begun to mean “A corporations way of covering it’s @$$ in the event of a lawsuit by telling employee’s don’t do these stupid obvious things so when you do this (or something else like it) we are covered because we have a sheet of paper that says we are ethical”. 

Ethics are supposed to be convictions, things that you hold so true that if something goes counter to them, they should sway your argument.  Ethics should go to the core of our beliefs.  Being Ethical should be a deeply individualistic kind of thing, not a group thing.  They should define YOU, they should help YOU through troubled times, and only in times of great crisis do YOU question them. 


Instead Ethics are just another tool of doing business and advertising.  Buy from this car company because we didn’t take money in the Government bail-out look at how we didn’t partake of a politically unpopular decision our Ethics.  Our Bank has been around for 130 years because we got lucky and didn’t jump when all the others did of our Ethics.  We are focused on our customers because it is really popular right now, and we are fighting tooth and nail not to lose market share of our Ethics.


Ahhh Ethics.  Ethics, Ethics, Ethics.  Ethics are important there is no denying that.  I like ethics, as a father with a whole bunch of kids I hope I’m bringing them up to be ethical and to live good lives in the future.  As a U.S. Citizen that has held positions in working with our Government that required a high level of Security Clearance I think they are essential in our work force.  As a private citizen I’ve also watched corporations use shotgun Ethics training to lighten their liability from law suits, watch as high ranking government leaders committed all kinds of unspeakable acts, and watch as religious leaders did the same or worse.

 
Ethics should be a deep part of you.  Ethics should be important to you, but they should not be something that a business can identify on a sheet of paper.  There are people out there that probably have the same ethics I do, but have a personality that would grate on my nerves.  We might not work well on a team together, even though we may vote in the same block.  Using a sheet of paper to pair me up with these folks would probably be bad.  To be honest,  I would like to see companies drop the pretend focus on Ethics. 

And as much as I would love to say that everyone involved with PASS and myself shares the same Ethics we probably do not, and I wouldn’t want to force mine on others.  I would hope that we are not so simple that a piece of paper would capture all of our Ethics either.  We probably have some core beliefs we share, but there is nothing about our job that Ethics would instill, that simply following the RULES wouldn’t put in place as well. 

It is not a great leap of faith to think that destroying data, hurting your company’s ability to do business, or risking national security is against the rules.  When I see IT individuals that burn the barn down on the way out of town I think WHY?  Why!  

I’m pretty sure they signed the Ethics form for their company.  I guess that piece of paper didn’t stop them.  Most were with their companies for years.  Striking out and getting revenge in IT is no different from doing so in real life.  If somebody makes a car accident happen because they were driving like a fool, and I get out of my car and decide to get revenge I’m probably going to jail.  There are rules against this, AHEM *assault* AHEM, just like there are Rules against malicious hacking, data theft, and Identity Theft.
 
So forgive me for the rant, but I don't like buzz words that should mean something.

 I like Rules.  Rules are simple; people can have philosophical battles on Ethics.  What is right what is wrong, what is perspective, blah blah blah.  Rules you can follow, like them or dislike them you know what they are.  “Don’t jump on the bed”-Don’t like it, but I make the kids follow it…on occasion.  “Eat your dinner before dessert” – Didn’t used to be a fan of this but 13 years and 4 kids later you don’t get dessert unless you eat your dinner. Football has rules, Baseball has rules, Heck DODGEBALL has rules.

And let us not forget Businesses are all run by Individuals.  Let the Individuals be ethical, and the business with follow, and we start by following the rules.

What we should be looking for are people that use the same Rules to govern themselves with that we use for us.  Personalities may still conflict, but as a Rule I believe in rewarding hard work and respecting intelligence.  We might not have Christmas at the family Casa together, but if we believe in the same things we can work together just fine.

And while I would love to say that there should be a common DBA or Data Personnel form of Ethics, (complete with a pledge, secret decoder ring, and Top Secret membership into our club of sorts), I would much rather have a couple rules to follow.  And I’m pretty sure anybody breaking these isn’t in the club, and gets their decoder ring taken away.

1. DON’T STEAL, COPY, OR PLAGURIZE

Blog after blog has been stolen, and the SQL people that you would have to face are legion.  You want to see a ravenous Twitter feeding, watch for the next time some IDIOT, steals a blog post, and then attempts to defend it.  You'll hear me say it again and again, the SQL Community as vast as it seems is a small one.  Blog posts take time and effort, and it is a terrible way to get your name known.

2. GIVE CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE

If you read a post and get an idea from it, make sure to give the credit where it is due.  The good folks over at SQLSkills.com are constantly doing things that I love. 

Jonathan Kehayias (@SQLPoolBoy|Blog), Joe Sack (@JosephSack|Blog), Glenn Berry (@GlennalanBerry | Blog), Paul Randal (@PaulRandal|Blog), and Kimberly Tripp (@KimberlyLTripp|Blog), in the last month I’ve used great scripts from every single one of them.  When I do I send people to their site. 

I post links to the MCM videos, MCM Videos You Should Be Watching These, I get ideas I work up a demo I put a link in the header of the script, as well as the name of the blog post, and I cite the author.  I appreciate what they do, and I use it to learn.  And I would never, ever want credit that doesn’t belong to me.  And besides see Rule 1.


3. DON’T BE A JACK@$$ RUDE

I have met so many people in the SQL Community that are just really nice people.  They make time for phone calls, they reply to emails promptly, and I’ve never met one that isn’t incredibly polite.  The SQL Community is not a large one.  There are several hundred people that you see over and over again.  And you will be amazed how polite each and every one of them are.

Maybe it is my background in sports, but being humble is something I need to work on.  My wife has been working on me for years.  I get too prideful at times, I like to compete and I like to win.  Everyone has their moment good and bad.  If you’re like me just do your best, and it will shine through.

4.  DON’T LIE

This will do nothing but hurt you and your credibility.  Remember small community, eventually we all come in contact with one another. 
Everybody starts out somewhere.  You do not need to impress anyone.  You need to be yourself.  You don’t have a certification in SQL 2003, you don’t have a MCITP in PHP, and none of us are perfect. 

I’ve locked out the production SQL Server Service account before…during the middle of the day,  as a Jr DBA I ran a profiler trace from the GUI against production (if you don’t know why this is bad, google SQL Server Side Traces and start using them), and I once crashed a cluster that….ask me and I’ll tell you in person.  The point is we’ve all done things wrong.  A lot of them taught us things that defined our careers as DBA’s.  The scratches are war wounds, and if you haven’t screwed up don’t feel like you have to invent a story to fit in.  Just remember rule #3, because one day you will screw up.

5.  HELP WHEN YOU CAN

Every rule so far has been a DON’T, I wanted one that was a DO! One of the great things about the SQL Community is that we love to help, we love to share knowledge, and we love to learn.  Depending on how long you’ve been in the game or how much you’ve been participating you will help and contribute somewhere and in some way.  You could be a community evangelist, you could be a forum moderator, you could just be the member that posts occasionally when they have time, you could be a SQL Saturday volunteer, or a conference attendee.  What you do matters, and it is what makes us a #SQLCommunity.


WRAP IT UP

Thank You for stopping by Dear Reader and putting up with my rant on Ethics.  The ones that have the most substance are the ones that you already thought were important.  Now let’s all follow the Rules and get on with the community!

Thanks Again,

Brad


Saturday, April 28, 2012

SQL Saturday 130 Deck & Scripts Live

Hello Dear Reader, greetings from SQL Saturday 130 in Jacksonville.  This is just a quick post to say that the slide Deck & Scripts are now up and on the Resource Page, I'll follow this up next week with a longer post reviewing the event.  Click Here for the Resource Page, click here for the Slide Deck, click here for the demos, and click here for the Monday Morning Check List.

Thanks,

Brad

Thursday, April 26, 2012

See you at SQL Saturday 130 Jacksonville!



http://www.flickr.com/photos/rohicks/4788477593/

Hello Dear Reader, this Saturday April 28th is SQL Saturday 130 in Jacksonville FL!  The good people from the Jacksonville SQL Server User Group have put together an excellent event.  If you are in the Jacksonville area, (or in FL or GA for that matter) and would like to make it to the event, go register here because we would love to see you!

On Friday the festivities kick off with a great Pre-Con Kevin Kline (Blog|@KEKline)  a full day on Troubleshooting & Performance Tuning for Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2.  Kevin is one of the top guys in the SQL Server world, he is a Founding member of PASS and a former PASS President, he’s a SQL MVP, an author, and an all around great guy.  This is a full day of training that normally goes for hundreds of dollars, and right now it is only $120 for the full day.  Click on the link above to get more details.

“So Balls,” you say, “What will you be doing at SQL Saturday 130?”

We will get to that in a moment Dear Reader but first let’s go to the line up.

THE USUAL SUSPECTS   

When you go to a SQL Saturday you expect a great line up, and SQL Saturday 130 in Jacksonville is no exception.  Six different SQL Server MVP’s, Six different tracks, two SSAS Maestro’s, all in all over 36 Sessions of pure SQL fun.   As if this wasn’t enough it is free.  That is right Dear Reader, if you have not been to a SQL Saturday in the past you may not know this but they are completely free to attend.  For the full schedule click here.

“So Balls”, you say, “What will you be attending?”


With all of these great speakers it will be tough to choose where to go, but I’m going to do my best!

If you’re new to the blog you may not know this, but I LOVE Compression! 

 One of the most interesting stories on Compression in SQL 2012, in my humble opinion, is ColumnStore Indexes.  So I’m going to start out the day with my friend Gareth Swanepoel (Blog|@GarethSwan) to learn more about them as he presents The Fangorn Forest – ColumnStore Indexes.  Then I’m off to present on Page & Row Compression in SQL 2012 (FYI 99.99% of what I cover works in 2008 R2 as well).  Next I’m off to watch Tom Brenneman (@TomBrenneman)  present on, Job Common Sense 101- Don’t be that Guy!!.  Tom does a lot of work with the Pragmatic Works foundation, runs the Jacksonville SQL Server User Group, and whenever I’ve spoken with him is a very engaging man.  I’m sure his presentation should be very interesting!  

After that I’m off to see Pam Shaw (Blog|@PamShaw)  presenting Taking the Scary out of Monster Reports.  Pam is a flat out expert at SSRS, she recently presented at MagicPASS, my SSUG home away from home, and she is great.  If you work with SSRS I would recommend you stop by and watch her present.  Next up I’m going to attend Chad Churchwell’s (Blog|@ChadChurchwell) session on SQL Server 2012 AlwaysOn for HA and DR.  I’ve had the pleasure of working with Chad since I hopped over to Pragmatic Works, and he is absolutely brilliant, Availability groups are one of the best things to come out of SQL 2012 and I’m really looking forward to seeing Chad’s take on them.  

Finally I’m going to finish off the day watching my friend Rob Volk(Blog|@SQL_R) present on Lego Sets: Relational Building Blocks.  I first watched Rob present at SQL Saturday 85 in Orlando last year, he is funny, engaging, and presenting on a topic I think EVERY DBA should learn about, Set Based Logic.  This is the mathematical foundation of how data set’s inside of SQL server work, and are the most efficient way to move and alter data vs. the Row By Agonizing Row approach (RBAR).  This should be a great way to end the day.

PAGE & ROW COMPRESSION IN SQL 2012

I’m presenting on my favorite topic, data compression.  And I hope you will stop by and join me if you are at SQL Saturday.  Here’s my abstract.

 “Page and Row Compression are powerful new tools. Vardecimal shipped with SQL 2005 SP2, Page & Row with SQL 2008 RTM, and Page & Row with Unicode Compression with SQL 2008 R2. In SQL 2012 we add Spatial Data Types. Get an overview into how each version of compression works internally. Learn how your Allocation Units will determine if your data is a candidate for compression. Understand how your tables Update and Scan pattern’s affect the compression types you should consider. And what you should you take into consideration for additional overhead.

This presentation is always a lot of fun, small crowd or big.  AS what our companies want to track continues to grow, our data volume will only continue to grow, and Compression will be a major component of how to handle that.  Come and learn how you should do it, and I’m not just talking turning it on and off, but really learn what are the internals of compression.  Learn how to decide what you should and should not compress, and walk away with a Monday Morning Checklist that will aid you if you are looking to apply this soon at your job.


SEE YOU THERE

As always Thanks for stopping by Dear Reader, I hope to see you at SQL Saturday and if you cannot make it to my session, I hope to see you at the event!

Thanks,

Brad