Lee Sloan (1/14/2009)
SQLBOT with respect, I think you miss my point.What I'm trying (and obviously failing) to say is that the advice points toward setting the processes at the ability of the lowest common denominator. But if the lowest common denominator is useless then perhaps a more effective strategy is to get rid of them and employ a team that can do the job required.
The IT industry seems to be populated by far too many people whose only notable ability is to read a step-by-step process manual and to hide behind those processes when they reach the limit of their intelligence, using phrases like "we have processes in place to best serve the organization". Sounds more like processes in place to best keep their jobs if you ask me.
These people seemingly have no idea about thinking around a problem and developing proper solutions, or indeed servicing customers - many of whom probably have better ideas about fixing the problem than they do. I guess this is the problem with working in an industry where too many people have in the past seen an opportunity to make a quick buck.
To be clear though, I do fully agree with you that solutions and processes should be properly documented to protect corporate knowledge. That is just common sense.
I believe that the point you made is at a tangent to the purpose of the article. The article is primarily about working within the culture you are given, not changing personnel. If you have the power to replace 5 "useless" members of the OS team as a junior level DBA, your organization has many more problems that the issues laid out in the article. Teamwork means you work together as a team to, at a minimum, hit the standards laid out and then exceed them so that the bar can be set higher for everyone on the team. If you set the bar too high you create a very bad reputation for the entire team because some can't, or won't, make the jump. I think you misread his context about setting the bar. You don't set it low and then only meet it, you keep resetting it higher as everyone on your team jumps it every time.