BYOD a Reality In Your Workplace…Officially? Bringing your own device started with cell phones, even back when they simply made (gasp!) calls. Even with that type of device however, you still have issues. Are people allowed to make business calls on personal phones? Now of course, with smart phones, tablets, personal laptop systems and many other devices, the picture is […]

$$SWYNK$$ SSWUGtv – Deployment Projects With Stephen Wynkoop What is the process of a typical deployment project, and how do you make it successful? Today Steve interviews Patrick Townsend sharing some great ideas. Watch the Show Server Techniques for Applying Windows Updates Many have written in regarding policies for Continuous Release (Automatic Windows Updates) for server environments. All have consistently […]

Great feedback on what is first as a DBA Had some great feedback on where to start when you come in to new systems, a new company, etc. Interestingly, none of the feedback agreed with the assertion that things may change if you’re working with cloud or mixed hosting solutions. Sylvia passed along an article they had penned that gives […]

Automatic Windows Update Practices Raising the topic of Windows Updates could be considered fishing for input, because it is such a controversial issue. It’s easy to get people to provide feedback because many of us have been saved or crushed by the capability. It seems to me that there may be different policies or practices for the use of Automatic […]

Automatic Updates Yesterday, as I was writing about Continuous Release, I was trying to think of examples that would be common to you. One I suggested would be the Google Chrome Browser. You may well have known that. But, did you know that Adobe Flash, as encapsulated in the Google Chrome Browser, automatically uploads the latest release to your computer […]

What is first as a DBA? It seems like we return to this question frequently. I get pretty regular "where do I start" type questions – and of late, I’ve noticed they’re changing. Not just "where do I begin" as a new DBA or someone just handed the tasks of managing their servers, but things are changing. The change comes […]

$$SWYNK$$ SSWUGtv – Close the Inteview With Stephen Wynkoop How do you successfully close an interview? Find out, with Laura Rose’s professional development tips. Watch the Show The Difference Between Continuous Integration and Continuous Release Continuous Integration and Continuous Release are two of the more modern software development practices. However, they are quite different in concept. Continuous Integration, as I […]

Final Thoughts on Innovation Today we wrap up the discussion on innovation with a number of comments from readers. Phil: Ah, certainly an intriguing question that should pique lots of interest. Of course there is no easy answer or formula. One of the rules of thumb I think is to ask "by innovating, will this give our product/service/business a significant […]

Innovation is Not the Same as Change Following up on the Question, "When Should We Innovate?", we get some great reader responses. Key to the response for today is the difference between change and innovation. The timing of innovation is crucial as well. Jim writes: Innovation for innovation’s sake, is rarely a good decision, but no always obviously so. Resisting […]

Featured Article(s) Column-Level Security with DECODE To restrict access to a certain column or columns within a table, you might create a view upon that table hiding unnecessary columns as needed. Sometimes, however, making a certain column completely inaccessible is not exactly what you’d like to get. Instead, you might mask the column values so that the user can access […]