A Wandering Mind

Before I was a DBA I used to bother them. It always seemed like they never had time for my work, never wanted to come to my meetings, never wanted to be a part of my projects. It was awful and I cursed them.

Now that I am a DBA, however, I’m finding the roles starkly reversed. My inbox is being pounded with requests to attend meetings; people are constantly walking up to my desk insisting that their project is the most important thing on my schedule, and that I must look at it immediately. I’m quickly developing a ruthless demeanor when it comes to these types of things. The hard truth is, I have to be ruthless, or I would never get anything done. I truly believe that is the case, and I have a whole new level of respect for the other guys on the team because of what they’ve had to deal with.

The good news is I have a good base of skills with which to wade through the river of work and choose what to do in a methodical and measured fashion. I’m becoming even more disciplined with my “not in my list, I don’t do it” rule, and I have mini reviews several times per day at a minimum. If at any point I’m feeling flustered or out of control, I simply take a deep breath, refocus, and look through my lists once again. It’s so simple and yet so effective; why do anything else?

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