We must bridge Yukon together
(Bridge over the Yukon River on the Dalton Highway, from
wirzen.net)
When I say "Yukon," I typically mean one of
the following
But today I don't want make any such distinctions. Today, the River
and the Product represent the same thing: a challenge. But if I start
there, things probably will not make much sense. So I'm going to start
with this:
Long ago in Japan, there were two brothers:
Banzan and Kato. Banzan, the older of the two, was a farmer, while Kato was a
metal smith. They lived in the same village, in deep valley near the Eastern
coast of the main Island. One night, a horrible storm came. The rain feel hard
for hours and a terrible flooding began. Both of the brothers knew that unless
the fled the village, they would surely die.
There was but one safe road to take, and the brothers met
while travelling on it. Safe, though, was relative, because as the end of the
road was a bridge over an other deep river and this bridge was guarded by an
demon. This demon would speak. but he could also read the hearts of men who
would try to cross the bridge. The demon was found have asking questions to
those who would seek to cross the bridge. This guardian would eat those who
tried to lie or trick there way over the bridge. But both Banzan and Kato were
wise and educated, so they felt comfortable the demon would let them pass.
The brothers finally made the clearing where the bridge was
footed. They stood ankle deep in waters having accumulated from the rain. Kato,
in his brash manner, approached the bridge and the demon appeared. The demon
visage was ghastly and his eyes were filled with fire. The Demon spoke in a
booming voice that overwhelmed the sound of the storm.
"Only one can pass."
Kato was stunned. He had been fully prepared to meet the
demon's question, but not such an edict. He turned to Banzan with shock.
"Brother... what does it mean." Before Banzan could answer, the demon said twice
as loudly.
"Only one can pass."
The rain started falling much harder and the brothers now
stood facing each other, knee deep in water. Banzan said, "I guess he'll only
let one of us cross."
Kato fumed, but he knew Banzan was right. "What shall we do,
brother?"
Both men though on the question for a moment before realizing
that they stood hip deep now in the flood water. "What we do, brother, I suggest
we do it quickly," Banzan replied.
Kato said, "it is right that you should go and I should
stay."
"If you stay, brother, you will surely parish. You must go," Banzan said.
The two brothers talked about the others virtues and tried to
convince the other to go. Quickly the water raised in level against them.
Suddenly, a large rain drop struck Banzan in the eye and
momentarily blinded him. When he recovered from the shock, Banzan asked his
brother, "Brother, you say that it is me that should cross the bridge, but who
will mend my plow and make knifes for us if you perish here? Without you, the
village cannot survive."
Kato immediately countered, "Brother, that is exactly why you
must go! No one else can grow our Rice or raise our Stock. If you do go, the
village will perish."
"Kato-chan," Banzan said, "I fear we are doomed then. We
should stay and perish together." But neither Brother was willing to do this.
A horribly loud, booming voice spoke: "Only one can pass."
The demon awaited them.
With the water now up their breastbones, Banzan asked, "Kato-chan,
if either of us are to survive, we must both cross the bridge together."
"Banzan-chan," Kato interrupted, "there are two of us and
only one can pass."
"No, Kato-chan, there is only one of us."
Kato didn't understand. Banzan went on to explain. Both
brothers we from the same parents. Both of them were from the same village. Both
of them were essentially to the survival of the village. They shared the same
purpose and goals, it was really only in tools, techniques and disciplines that
we they differed.
"Banzan-chan, you are saying we are one." And Kato believed
as Banzan that they were indeed so. Hand in hand, They approached the bridge so
as it cross it.
The demon stopped them and said in a voice so soft that
either brother could barely hear it. "Only one can pass."
"We are one. We serve the same goal and purpose; we are sons
of the same parents; we both wish to cross as brothers."
The demon turned to away from them to the other side of the
bridge where the brothers would be safe. "Only one can pass." The demon then
disappeared into a lighting flash.
The brothers crossed the bridge, remaining hand-in-hand.
You might be rightly asking what this story means to us as developers and
DBAs. You might also be wondering why I told this story. Consider the following
mapping.
- "Long ago Japan" is here, today, and where we will be when SQL Server
2005 releases.
- Banzan is a Database Administrator instead of a farmer. His normal area
of concern the production of crops and stocks, which we can related to data
and servers.
- Kato is a Developer instead of a metal smith. His normal area of concern
is the production of tools that are used to both generate the crops and to
harvest the livestock.
- The flood is what users demand of systems.
- The village is the total enterprise system.
- The demon is the unknown. It is the task of learning and gaining
confidence in and with SQL Server 2005.
- By calling Kato and Banzan brothers, I mean they work together for the
same company or organization.
- By saving the village, the brothers actually have a common purpose:
serving the users.
- The River and the Valley spanned by the bridge is SQL Server 2005.
What is the bridge then? Co-operation instead of competitiveness. Commonly
instead of differences. The Way instead of the Challenge.
It was only when the brothers both realized that they weren't two different
people that the realized they could cross the bridge. As DBAs, we are really
developers. As Developers, we really are DBAs. It is when we let our specific
disciplines, tools and techniques dominate that these differences make it
impossible for us to cross the bridge. It is when we accept that have the same
goals, purposes and circumstances that we will achieve success with this
product. To that end, we must be willing to set aside our differences and figure
out how to cross the bridge together. To try fight the demon will only lead us
to becoming the demon. That is, we will struggle without out end against the
true nature of this product. Accept that fighting it is not the answer. Nor is
standing still. Fighting the flood is at best a temporary solution. Eventually,
you will have to cross the bridge. As long as the dual nature exists within your
mindset, the demon will resist you, and you will not cross the future.
How do we begin to reach this state?
- The most important thing is to truly accept and believe that this is the
right way to do it. Everyone involved must be willing to commit 100% to it
to make it work.
- Next, you will have to start talking to each other: Accept on faith and
trust that other is right about their concerns. Your charge is create the
best village, not just the best field or best foundry. The best fields
and foundries will come out of that effort.
- Realize that anything less than "win/win" isn't creating best village.
It is okay for accept an "I lose, you win" if that's what it takes to build
a better relationship, but each instance of this is like a taking a bit of
poison. Entering into any part of the process with an "I win, you lose" goal
is direct violation of the first step and is not acceptable.
- Also remember that Banzan wasn't concerned if Kato knew the right way to
plow the fields, nor did Kato feel that Banzan needed to know how to forge
iron. They both knew they needed to function individually to assure the
survival of the village. There was no other option. But don't take that to
mean that the DBA can be blindly ignorant of what the developer's code is
doing. Rather, the opposite is true. As DBAs, we need to understand enough
about the code to understand its likely and potential affects on the
systems. Nor can the developer be totally unaware of how the system works,
they need to understand good database design and operations practices so as
to enable rather than hinder them. The planning, design, analysis,
development, testing and deployment must be jointly conducted. Accept that
both duality and unity are needed and neither is more important than the
other. The brothers must walk over the bridge hand-in-hand.
It won't be easy, though, I understand that. There's a lot of reasons for the
partitions that exist now between these groups. Frankly, many of us have become
comfortable with them. Yukon is not merely a change to those comforts, its is a
challenger to them. These partitions must be torn down, Change is never easy,
but talking it through, building true consensus through mutual respect. The best
rule might very well be that the past is history to learn from, not to repeat.
We would do well to remember that while the journey may seem like the
obstacle here, it really is not. The obstacle really is the only journey worth
taking.