September 15, 2010 at 4:55 am
Hi All,
I would like to know how to handle a non-DBA Boss or non-IT Boss
Thanks
Ram
MSSQL DBA
September 15, 2010 at 8:36 am
What do you mean handle? I'm not quite sure what you're looking for. Ideally the manager should be handling you.
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September 15, 2010 at 9:11 am
Reo (9/15/2010)
Hi All,I would like to know how to handle a non-DBA Boss or non-IT Boss
Thanks
Like any other boss...
They're in charge.
Since they don't know about IT stuff, YOU will need to properly educate them over time and probably be really understanding.
You only have two jobs... protect the data and make your boss look good. If you can't make your boss look good, it's time to find a new job.
--Jeff Moden
September 16, 2010 at 11:58 am
don't get too technical when talking to them. have a summary for everything you want to do with the reason and risks
and the most important thing is learn how to do a Return on Investment summary on anything you want them to buy you. no business buys stuff just for the hell of it. everything you buy has to save the company money.
September 16, 2010 at 12:19 pm
... or increase income.
September 17, 2010 at 7:59 am
I'd say the biggest issue is one of trust. From your manager's perspective, (s)he is in a position of needing to trust your judgement on the technical side of things. This can lead to feelings of insecurity on his/her part, since (s)he may not have the knowledge base necessary to correctly assess your judgment. Some managers face this insecurity by acting like they know what they don't -- which can very dangerous. Some face it by putting their faith in you.
Obviously, the latter is better from your perspective. However, the former can be manageable (yes, you may have to manage your manager); usually the best strategy is to do things the way you know they need to be done but help make it look like your manager knew this all along.
The trust issue goes both ways; if you and your manager don't have a common center from which to communicate (you only speak Geek, your manager only speaks MBA), you may feel insecure as to how best to perform what you are being asked. This situation get easier if you can find something about the manager to respect; if you can recoginze his/her competences, it is much easier to follow where (s)he leads.
In the ideal situation, over time, you both learn from each other. As Jeff says, this requires patience and understanding.
November 18, 2010 at 6:52 am
Respected All,
Everybody is taking my question in a native way. But I am putting this question very gentle that how to interact with non-DBA manger? It is my gentile question for DBAs not for managers.
Some time they do not understand what a DBA trying to saying. May be I am wrong. But I think I should share what I think Or what problem I face as DBA. and I think sqlservercentral.com is a place for DBA not for Managers.
I know it is different type of question but I just share it.
With Respectful,
Ram
MSSQL DBA
November 18, 2010 at 7:01 am
Reo (11/18/2010)
Respective All,Everybody is taking my question in native way. But I am putting this question very gentle that how to interact with non-DBA manger? It is my gentile question for DBAs not for managers.
Some time they do not understand what a DBA trying to saying. May be I am wrong. But I think I should share what I think as DBA.
With Respectful,
The key thing is communication. It needs to be real to the person you're communicating with. So you can't say, to a non-DBA boss, "The DMVs show that our clustered and non-clustered indexes need better keys, so I used a trace replay in QA to tune those, and moved a couple of tables to 5NF, and the execution plans are now showing more seeks, so I need to migrate that to production." You'd have to say, "I analyzed the database performance, worked out a solution to some key issues, and would like to migrate them to production."
If your boss wants to know details, explain the terminology and concepts as you go. Means it will take longer to say, but it will be more clear. If your boss trusts the details to you, or wants you to document them but doesn't want to read that himself, then that's fine. Just make sure what you do communicate will be clear.
That's true of any communication, not just DBA-to-manager, so it's a good skill to practice.
Please note, there are technical terms and techniques for describing the communications process, which would allow me to write all of the above in 3 letters to someone with the same education that I have on the subject. I avoided that for reasons that are now recursive to the first paragraph I wrote above. Makes it easier, doesn't it?
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November 19, 2010 at 12:38 pm
Quite simply you need to learn 'his language'. This implies using 'business' terms instead of 'technical' terms - you'll need to 'dumb it down' - just how far is a tough call. The key is learning 'his language' first.
RegardsRudy KomacsarSenior Database Administrator"Ave Caesar! - Morituri te salutamus."
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