Code standards can be the hardest to implement. Naming conventions are preferable, though keep it simple - just use prefixes.

The most important thing I have found is synchronising backups of...

Nope, I'm sure it's Walking "Around". I though a Walk-About was an Australian Aborigine rite of passage ?

I hadn't imagined that going down to the shop floor entailed discovering...

There is a technique called Mangement by Wandering Around (MBWA). It was a big favourite at Hewlett Packard. I have found it to be most useful. As a DBA it...