Regular Columnist: Phil Factor

The English voice of IT reason, Phil Factor, brings us a guest editorial. Today he waxes about the overbearing processes used to build internal corporate applications.  Read more...

Phil ponders whether the term 'DBA' is still really meaningful, or if it's just a blunt instrument used to bash a diverse population into a mis-conceived niche. Is it worth the trouble of being typecast, just to have those 3 letters on your CV?  Read more...

A guest editorial from Phil Factor puts in a good word for ODBC. This is the standard for Windows machines to connect to all kinds of data sources, and is both loved and hated by developers of all kinds.  Read more...

Phil reflects on the problem-solving power of SQLServerCentral at its best, and mentions some of the impressive contributions to the Summer SQL Stumpers competition  Read more...

Everyone has an opinion on the best advice to give an IT person who is unemployed and wants to get back into paid work. Phil Factor outlines what he would advise.  Read more...

The use of non-relational databases is a fascinating topic but they will remain special-purpose and are not competing with SQL-based relational databases.  Read more...

Developers and DBAs both tend to lead stressful lives. Occasionally, things don't go to plan, and this stress can then build to pretty intolerable levels. Without adaptive methods of dealing with stress, things can go very wrong...  Read more...

When you're doing any database development work, it won't be long before you need to seriously consider the documentation of your routines. Should we, as a community, propose a common standard for T-SQL headers, and the information that should go into them?  Read more...

Do CLR triggers really represent the most popular usage of CLR in enterprise SQL Servers? Phil Factor wants to know if this is the case, and if so, what on earth are they doing?  Read more...

Phil Factor muses on security, bayonets, and databases, and somehow manages to pull it all together in this editorial.  Read more...

The software industry is, just occasionally, more absurd than one would dare to imagine. Having spent most of his working life in its clutches, Phil Factor has pretty much "seen it all" and what's more he's prepared to tell what he knows. The second edition of Phil's "Confessions of an IT Manager" contains Phil's full repertoire of tales of institutional mayhem and software projects gone awry.  Read more...

Phil has a nasty surprise when a team of testers turn up to test an n-tier system  Read more...

There's a saying about what it says about a person to assume something. However it's something we all do every day. Phil Factor brings us a guest editorial about assumptions in SQL code.  Read more...

The Northwind database has a place in our collective hearts, despite all efforts to displace it in favor of AdventureWorks. However, a lot has happened in the past twelve or so years, and Phil Factor wonders if we can't, as a community, do better.  Read more...

Phil Factor muses on the power, and potential failings, of the relational database, and wonders if those responsible for its development should feel any guilt about the opportunities for abuse of the power that it affords.  Read more...

In which Phil Factor toys with the thought of producing quality metrics for SQL code, before dismissing the idea as foolhardy.  Read more...

Phil takes us through one of the best kept secrets of SSMS - Templates. Even for a 'plain-screen' man like Phil, Templates are an excellent tool, and a major reason to use SSMS.  Read more...

In which Phil Factor's attention wanders whilst reading some software product announcements and imagines what would have happened if the current IT Bloggers had been in charge of the White Star Line at the time of RMS Titanic.  Read more...

In which Phil Factor responds to the muse and writes a poem in the style of a School Song, in which he tries to give a mention to all the top writers and forum-posters.  Read more...

In which Phil hears about an extra 'leap' second added over the new year, and broods on the missing INTERVAL datatype in SQL Server  Read more...