Craig S. Mullins : Reading a DBA's mind

Have you ever tried to read a DBA's mind ? With a lot of questions currently running in my very own head, I haven't had time to tunnel into my colleagues brains to find out whats going on with all that circling DB2 thoughts. But there is someone out there who has read each and every DBA's mind in this universe.

Check out this post about - " Top Ten Things To Do Before You Visit The DBA " by Craig S. Mullins, President & Principal Consultant @ Mullins Consulting, Inc

This blog post clearly justifies Craig's findings :

1 ) According to Craig : " Try to figure it out yourself, Please "
How true, most of the requests or issues will be not DBA related but still DBA's are contacted for the same. Example : A duplicate data insert on a table with a primary index ? Well the SQL code itself is self-explanatory. Manuals are online and available 24 x 7 - DBA's may not be online for you all the time.

2) According to Craig : " RTFM "
Research To Find More, Research on the topic of concern is something everyone can do before approaching DBA's, which will make any DBA feel - Aaahhh ! they have already come up with some test cases and findings, lets help them.

3) According to Craig : " Figure out what you are going to say to him/her "
Most of the times DBA's need to completely look into the email chain as the mail would have a blunt FYI/FYA without a clear request, not a good day to start for a DBA

4) According to Craig : " Be sure its the truth "
Question : Did you perform that BIND on XYZ module ?
Answer : Yes !!
Findings : BIND performed on ABC module

5) According to Craig : " Don't assume you ( your code ) are innocent "
Lot of developers are hesitant to change the code, DBA's do understand that it is a difficult procedure to change code and it may impact business logic. But the code that is currently in production can never be assumed to be innocent or the '' FINAL " code. There is always scope for improvement.

6) According to Craig : " Have a drink ( Coffee ) "
Craig tries to convey a message to everyone : " Take it easy, It's solvable !! "

7) According to Craig : " Bring the DBA a drink "
It's a good practice to get the work done ( quickly )

8) According to Craig : " Never say but IBM ( or Oracle or Microsoft... ) said it should work this way "
Always be more accurate with details of the blog, book, article where you came across the context being explained or researched than briefing the DBA with just the organization name.

9) According to Craig : " Never say it worked that way yesterday ! "
Systems and programs are never consistent, things can change overnight. A REBIND on a program can change the course of the river and bring in floods. Things which went on smooth yesterday, might not go as planned today. DBA's and programmers together can sort out the changes better than any other combination on earth.

10) According to Craig : " Always say Thank you ! "
Next time - you will get a free advise from the DBA

Summary :

This blog sincerely thanks Craig S. Mullins for reading a DBA's mind and letting me express thoughts on such a wonderful, humorous and fun-filled topic.