RE: Operational Excellence - True or False? (Feel free to explain if so inclined)

  • From: "Taylor, Chris David" <ChrisDavid.Taylor@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: 'Guillermo Alan Bort' <cicciuxdba@xxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Thu, 28 Jul 2011 15:20:33 -0500

This touches on where I was going with my thought processes.

It seems to me to be similar to the idea of multi-classing for those of us who 
used to play RPGs back in the day.

It seems to me (and perhaps I'm wrong) that an individual can achieve a higher 
level of expertise through a targeted/focused approach in a specific area or 
skill set.  When a person tries to achieve the same level of expertise in 2 
similar (but also very different) skill sets, the proficiency in both is 
_behind_ any individual who takes the targeted approach and will always remain 
behind.

-Chris

From: alanbort@xxxxxxxxx [mailto:alanbort@xxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Guillermo 
Alan Bort
Sent: Thursday, July 28, 2011 3:03 PM
To: Taylor, Chris David
Cc: Michael.Coll-Barth@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: Operational Excellence - True or False? (Feel free to explain if 
so inclined)

I've often found it difficult to find candidates who would be able to provide 
"operational excelence" in a single RDBMS (Oracle)... I'd hate to have to look 
for someone who has to be proficient in both.

now, cynicism apart, I think that in order to be really good at what you do you 
have to dedicate a lot of time to it, and if you expect to have any kind of 
work-life balance then you simply don't have the time to master two RDBMS' to 
the same level.

"Ah, but I already know Oracle, so I'll spend the next 5 years training in SQL" 
you say? Well, good luck with that... if you have the time to do full training 
on SQL then I envy you... and furthermore, 5 years of full time training on SQL 
means no upkeep training on Oracle, which means you'd be stuck with 9i/10g 
right now with all these nifty new 11gR2 features... perhaps this is what 
Oracle is talking about.

Also, I think we need to consider the target audience and read a little more 
than the phrase itself, I think it's aimed at large companies with very large 
DBA groups (from 10 to several dozen dbas), so they are giving a statement that 
applies to *most* people. I have no doubt that there's someone out there that 
is an Oracle Guru and an expert in SQL Server and also dabbles in MySQL and 
PGSQL and keeps a Sybase in his usbkey... though I doubt very much they are 
very common and I'd wager they have more than a couple of decades of 
experience, which means hiring them may prove too expensive.

just my 0.02 AR$. ;-)

cheers
Alan.-

On Thu, Jul 28, 2011 at 4:23 PM, Taylor, Chris David 
<ChrisDavid.Taylor@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:ChrisDavid.Taylor@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>> 
wrote:
Yikes!  Yes, I think you need to eat :)

I actually made the conscious decision to not define Operational Excellence 
because it is different for each organization.  Operational excellence might be 
recognized by providing 5 9s of availability (99.999) because that is what is 
determined as the measuring stick for a particular organization.  A different 
organization may strive for response time for 90% of queries to complete in 
under 10 ms.  Obviously these are simplistic examples.

I think you have made the mistake of equating excellence with infallible or 
inerrant (or perhaps both).  Perhaps to you that is what operational excellence 
is.  To be inerrant and/or infallible.

I hope that helps.

--Chris

From: oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> 
[mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>] On 
Behalf Of Coll-Barth, Michael
Sent: Thursday, July 28, 2011 2:13 PM

To: oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: RE: Operational Excellence - True or False? (Feel free to explain if 
so inclined)


What utter nonsensical, management double speak; 'operational excellence'.

But, I'll play.



Care to define the term?


If I were to take the term at face value, I'd have to say that there are very 
few out there that could be considered excellent at anything.  Some of us may 
be very good or even damn good, but excellent?  No.  Even someone like Tom Kyte 
has failings and he'd be the first to tell you that.  Just check out his web 
site.

As written, the statement is false and inflammatory.

Add the following line;  'But that individual could provide the operational 
proficiency that is quite a bit more than good enough', and the statement 
becomes true and reasonable.


And with that said, 'excellence' is something to be strived for by everyone, 
but is rarely, if ever, achieved by anyone.



I haven't eaten today, so perhaps I'm just not feeling excellent.  Ted, Bill?  
You ready to head out?  Your stepmom *is* cute, though.


From: oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> 
[mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>] On 
Behalf Of Taylor, Chris David
Sent: Thursday, July 28, 2011 2:47 PM
To: 'oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>'
Subject: Operational Excellence - True or False? (Feel free to explain if so 
inclined)

I just want to get an idea of where some of you fall on this statement...

Truth Statement:
Due to the differences in Oracle and Microsoft database products, an individual 
person cannot provide operational excellence in both products with regard to 
the management of large enterprise data stores.

(That is, to achieve operational excellence in regard to enterprise data 
management of large data stores managed by both Oracle and SQL Server, you need 
individuals who specialize in each technology).

--Chris

Other related posts:

  1. Home
  2. oracle-l
  3. Archive
  4. 07-2011