Stability is the goal of every enterprise. This sentiment is evident in the frequency of how uptime is measured – and more simply by uptime.
Reporting on the other hand is often times forgotten in how it is married to stability and uptime. Furthermore, there is another paradox that exists in the stability push. That paradox is that the DBA appears to become expendable in spite of the value and stability they bring to the environment.
In this article, I am looking to explore stability, reporting, and the value that a DBA brings to both!
Food for thought
The more time you spend in reporting on what you are doing, the less time you have to do anything. Stability is achieved when you spend all your time doing nothing but reporting on the nothing you are doing.
I have previously written about the need for reporting, granted in a more narrow focus but the principles of reporting apply in a broader sense. In that article, I said:
No matter the mechanism used to capture the data to fulfill the “investigation” phase of the audit, if the data is not analyzed and reports generated, then the audit did not happen.
One can take that narrow application of reporting and apply it to a broader spectrum such as “stability” and it would still make quite a bit of sense. In other words, “If data is not analyzed and reports generated, then the stability goals were not reached!”
Ouch! Or is it? How can you know what you have achieved if there is not some sort of review of your progress, goals, and accomplishments? The reporting piece is the next level of that goal review – you have to present the findings to somebody. This concept is very similar to another article I wrote some time ago – here. You need to be your own biggest advocate. Brag a bit about the stability that you have attained in your enterprise!
What is Stability?
Stability (in the database landscape) is the nirvana achieved from the extreme efforts of qualified DBAs to ensure surprises, fires, unwanted changes, etc. are not occurring. In other words, this is the work of the DBA to make the job “boring” and essentially make themselves invisible to the business (which unfortunately is the root cause of the business thinking they can survive without the DBA).
This nirvana is a desired state. It is undesirable to have constant 5 alarm fires in the environment and the business breathing down your neck for it to be fixed. That kind of work environment is not sustainable nor is it enjoyable. That said, just because the DBA has brought stability to the environment through long hours and expertise, has the DBA achieved stability if no reporting has been done?
Showing Stability to the Business
When stability is achieved, the business is quite frankly unaware of it. They know when it is broken and they know that somebody is needed for the DBA role only because things are broken. When they have nothing to demonstrate that there is work in the queue for the DBA or that the DBA is doing a lot more than they think, then the DBA becomes expendable.
What should be done? This is where the DBA should continue to market their skills and value to the company. Think of it as a perpetual interview. Show the business the constant value brought to them through your efforts. In other words – report on your efforts and successes and the stability you have brought. This is extremely valuable information. With this insight, the business will regard the DBA in a different light, and the business will behold the DBA as more essential than just somebody to respond to the onslaught of support tickets.
Put a bow on it
Stability and reporting go hand in hand. You cannot truly have stability without reporting. Take the time to share the stability successes with the business. Let them revel in the successes you have brought to the enterprise data footprint.
When you start to share your successes with the business, you prove to them your value and the stability you bring. Help the business to understand why the database ecosystem is mostly invisible to them. Show them it is due to your labors to stabilize the environment. Educate the business that you make the database as seamless to use as possible!
Interested in learning more deep technical information? Check these out!
Want to learn more about your indexes? Try this index maintenance article or this index size article.
This is the second article in the 2021 “12 Days of Christmas” series. For the full list of articles, please visit this page.
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