Re: Question about time accounting at your work
- From: Mathias Magnusson <mathias.magnusson@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: kjped1313@xxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 19 Sep 2009 08:52:57 +0200
I really don't think time accounting is a solution to this problem. It tells
someone how you split your time and if the right problems got the priority
it deserves. Rarely does it tell a non technical manager how well you solved
the problem and how much better somthing actually works after you
implemented a change.
To show you manager and other what you do, I would start writing a status
report. Yes it is a pain and yes it is boring, but it gives you and them a
record to look at when the question of value is raised. I would follow it up
with asking for a weekly halfhour to hour meting with your manager where he
gets to ask questions and you go through the status report and discuss the
important things verbally.
Learning how to write a status report to show your value to your manager or
to your client is a skill I consider to be almost essential today when we
have increase scrutiny of the value we provide. The key problem is that we
often help non managers solve problems and few managers are ever informed of
the quality of the solution. We are partly to blame since a lot of us cannot
be bothered to explain what we do and why it is a good solution to non
technical people. Actually explaining it in terms the receiver understands
is hard, but it is also one of the best investments one can make for
themselves.
Mathias
On Sat, Sep 19, 2009 at 2:15 AM, Kellyn Pedersen <kjped1313@xxxxxxxxx>wrote:
> Although I don't have to do this in my current position, I've actually
> recommended time tracking for DBA's as a lead. The reason was simple and
> one you mentioned below- rarely do anyone other than DBA's know what the
> value of a DBA is!
> We are commonly the first group to be shaved off from during budget cuts
> and the first position to be opened up again when the cycle of value
> realization rears it's ugly head... :)
> I also think it's incredibly important to show the value of your work and
> how much a DBA can provide in long-term saving to a company. Primarily my
> skills keep my employers/companies from making unnecessary hardware
> purchases, pre-mature upgrades to systems, experiencing outages that could
> have been pro-actively stopped and ensuring that development to production
> is done right and not twice.
> I have worked with DBA's and developers that thought the only way to show
> they were an asset meant they should create situations that required their
> intervention so that they could prove that they were necessary to the
> busines. In my eyes, that kind of "superman" behavior only makes them into a
> liability, not an asset.
>
> Kellyn Pedersen
> Multi-Platform DBA
> I-Behavior
>
> --- On *Fri, 9/18/09, Taylor, Chris David <
> ChrisDavid.Taylor@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>* wrote:
>
>
> From: Taylor, Chris David <ChrisDavid.Taylor@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: Question about time accounting at your work
> To: "'oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx'" <oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Date: Friday, September 18, 2009, 2:28 PM
>
>
> Ok fellow full-time employee DBAs I have a question. (Not for contractors
> :)
>
> How many of you use project accounting at your place of work. Where every
> hour has to be accounted for against projects, or maintenance or some other
> code?
>
> I was basically told I'm not "visible enough" --- this is 1 year after
> receiving a ton of awards and accolades for solving a problem at one of our
> sister companies. Now it "appears" that my value to the company is being
> questioned. I imagine questions like "What does he do all day?" are being
> asked.
>
> Usually I lump database support into 1 group, and patches/maintenance into
> another group and performance tuning into a 3rd group. Now, I'm goign to
> have to start micromanaging my hours. I work for an internal IT department
> at a large corporation. I think we bill the other departments for services,
> but not sure.
>
> Anyone else have to deal with this?
>
> *Chris Taylor*
> *Sr. Oracle DBA*
> Ingram Barge Company
> Nashville, TN 37205
> Office: 615-517-3355
> Cell: 615-354-4799
> Email:
> chris.taylor@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx<http://us.mc320.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=chris.taylor@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>
>
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