General

Opinion: To find good staff, invest in communications, not buildings

Many of my customers are software houses (ISVs). In almost all of them, I hear people complaining that they can’t find enough good staff. I think they are trying to tackle the wrong problem.

Most of the staff members they are trying to find are developers, and there are so many great developers out there, but you have to accept that they might not be in the location that you hope they’re in.

2018-02-27

Opinion: Constant churn breaks community learning for software applications

A current trend that I can’t say that I love is constant churn within software applications. I have no interest to go back to the days where we got a new version of SQL Server or Power BI, etc. every few years.

It’s also not a case of who moved my cheese?

In fact, I thrive on change. However, I’ve now become really concerned about how anyone:

  • Learns to use a complex application
  • Remembers how to use a complex application when they don’t use it daily

I first really struck this issue with Azure. If I was teaching a class that used Azure, I could check every single lab on Sunday night, then Monday morning, the students would find it had all changed. That’s OK for an experienced person, but not OK for a learner.

2018-02-20

Opinion: There's a plague we need to stop

I’ve concluded that many software vendors (particularly large ones) don’t understand how much support users of their software provide to each other, and how critical that support is.

The SQL and data communities are a good example of this. When someone has a problem and are wondering how to solve it, they don’t call Microsoft or Google or Oracle (or whichever vendor) first. If they’re lucky, they ask a colleague for help. But most will simply make a Google search (or yes a Bing search) to try to find an answer.

2018-02-13

Opinion: You have to live and breathe the technology to be good at it

Digital Transformation and Cloud Transformation are phrases that I hear bandied around at nearly every large organization that I currently doing consulting work for.

Yet, in so many cases, I can’t see the organization achieving the changes required. This is for two core reasons:

  • The first is that the culture within the organizations is a major hurdle. There just isn’t enough flexibility to think outside the box about alternative ways to work.
  • Worse (and probably more concerning), I see these companies taking advice on how to make these transformations from companies who don’t themselves “get it”.

An organization that is cloud-antagonistic internally, and stuck in an endless IT management quagmire, isn’t likely to make a good cloud transformation, and they’re certainly not going to be a successful partner to be able to help you to make a successful cloud migration or to implement a cloud transformation within your company.

2018-02-06

Opinion: Vendors who prevent patching should be liable for issues

When many SQL Server customers are asked why they haven’t kept up to date with either SQL Server versions, or more importantly, patches to SQL Server, the answers usually boil down to two reasons:

  • They are just slack
  • Their vendors won’t support the later version or patch level

Many SQL Server application vendors don’t keep up to date with testing of their applications on released versions or patches for SQL Server.

2018-01-30

Opinion: Case Sensitivity is a Pox on Computing

Case sensitivity in comparisons is an aspect of computing that I’m surprised is still so widespread. I can’t say it more clearly than this:

It’s a pox on computing and needs to be eradicated.

I’ve recently been working at a site where a new case-sensitive SQL Server system is being implemented. I cannot begin to describe what a poor idea I think this is.

In the end, all that a case sensitive system allows you to do is:

2018-01-23

Opinion: Treat Staff like Adults

There’s a nasty trend that I’ve seen at a number of sites in recent years. It’s the tendency to try to block and or censor anything that the company thinks might be an issue. Some companies are so concerned about their IP (intellectual property) that they even try to stop any potential leak of that property.

While on the surface, that all might seem to make sense, it’s not sensible. It’s unproductive.

2018-01-09

SQL: Best Way to Scale SQL Server Database Performance

I see so much written about how to scale SQL Server systems, and this generally starts with needing to improve SQL Server database performance. When I read articles from the SQL Server field support teams with titles like Top 10 Performance Problems for SQL Server, I often just smile.

The problem is one of perspective. If you are looking at the performance problems that are brought to the support teams to solve, you get a very, very skewed view of what’s typical.

2018-01-08

DevOps: Microsoft Professional Program for DevOps

In the second half of 2016, I enrolled in the Microsoft Professional Program for Data Science, and completed it in early 2017. I have to say that I really enjoyed it overall. It was a bit challenging at times but I don’t regret doing it.

If you want to get the certification, you need to enroll in the verified option for each course. Nowadays, that’s pretty much $99 USD per course. You can do it for free, and if you’re tight on funds, perhaps that’s what you should do. I like to support the concept, and like to support both Microsoft and edX for creating these options. They are doing amazing work, so while I hear people say to just do the courses and not contribute to them, I can’t say that I agree.

2018-01-05

Opinion: If you can't type, you are writing worse code than if you could

Let me make a potentially bold statement:

People who can’t type write worse code than they could be writing

I’m sure that will upset some people (probably those who can’t type or who are two or four finger typists) but it’s a conclusion that I’ve come to over many years. Coding is clearly not the same thing as typing but the reason is simple:

To write good code, you need to be prepared to constantly refactor and rework the code that you write, and if you can’t do that quickly, you’ll be more reluctant to do it.

2018-01-01