11Nov 2014 by Grant Fritchey 1 Comment

I’m Still Not on the Board

PASS
I'm just back from the PASS Summit 2014. What a great event. But this year, it was a little different. I did a lot of the usual things, presented a pre-conference seminar to about 130 people, helped out at the Red Gate booth, presented a session on execution plans on Friday, went to a few after hours events (that included karaoke). You know, the Summit. My tenth one. But, I am starting the process of transitioning onto the board. This will be my first report on the work I've been doing around that. However, please let me point out something, that was made very obvious to me during the event, I'm coming on to the board, but I'm not yet on the board. I say this because whatever work I…
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06Nov 2014 by Grant Fritchey 7 Comments

PASS Summit 2014: WIT Luncheon

PASS
Since I'm starting on the board in January, I've stopped taking part in the bloggers table during keynotes. First time since they had a bloggers. But, I am going to blog through the Women in Technology (WIT) Luncheon because I just love getting to take part in this amazing event. For the luncheon this year, they have changed the format. Instead of a panel, they're just talking to some really interesting people who have been doing amazing stuff supporting growth of women within STEM types of work and education. First up is Kimberly Bryant, the founder of a non-profit organization called Black Girls Code. She started out trying to build a for-profit startup, but when she found that there just weren't that many women in technology. But when her daughter…
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20Oct 2014 by Grant Fritchey 4 Comments

Database Lifecycle Management

Redgate Software
There are lots of people who talk about Application Lifecycle Management. But, the database is a major part of every application and if you do a similar search, there aren't very many people talking about Database Lifecycle Management at all. Why not? I'm positive you're deploying a database with your applications. I'm also positive, because of the unique problems that databases present, primarily around data persistence, that you need to think about how to get your database(s) deployed. Unfortunately, even for strong, capable data professionals, deployment is something thought about later. Or, you're still doing the old school method of waiting until there's a deployment script that you're going to review, line-by-line, before you run it against production. There's a better way. What you need to do is start thinking…
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17Oct 2014 by Grant Fritchey 7 Comments

Why Haven’t You Changed Everything?

PASS
The first in what I hope will be many regular reports on what I'm doing on the PASS board. To answer the question that I've already been asked (who had 47 hours in the pool?), first, I'm not on the board yet. I was elected to it and my term starts in January. So, don't expect a lot in the way of ongoing structural changes at the organization instigated by me. Second, I'm the lowest of the low on the board (after I'm actually on the board), so I won't be making a whole lot of changes at all (whether I wanted to or not). Third, the board is a board, a bunch of people, who get to vote on things, so even if I were able to call a…
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16Oct 2014 by Grant Fritchey No Comments

Query Performance Tuning in SQL Server

SQL Server
I have a pre-con coming up at the PASS Summit. You can read about it here. I named it "Query Performance Tuning in SQL Server 2014" because it seemed like a good idea to bring out the aspects of 2014, and we will. But, I need to tell you, this is primarily a session about query performance tuning in SQL Server, full stop. I'm going to cover information that's applicable all the way back to SQL Server 2000 and 2005. The majority of the information will be applicable to 2008 and up. I'm going to go over the things you can do with dynamic management views to pull information about queries to tune right out of the cache. That's applicable to more than 2014. We're also going to go over…
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15Oct 2014 by Grant Fritchey 8 Comments

Thank You: #passvotes

PASS
The results are in and it seems that I've been elected to a place on the PASS Board. Thank you. I will strive to be worthy of the position you've placed in my hands. I will do my best to make a difference on the board. Watch this space for regular updates on what I'm doing as your representative. If you don't see updates here, feel free to call for them. It's the one promise I made during the election and I think you should hold me to it. Worth noting, I'll be speaking for myself, as a member of the board, not as an official spokesman for the PASS organization. It might be a distinction without a difference, but it's worth noting. Thank you to Sri Sridharan for your…
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12Oct 2014 by Grant Fritchey No Comments

Navel Gazing

Professional Development
I love negative feedback. Well, not really. I love constructive feedback. I love the feedback that gives me things to think about. Am I presenting the right material? Am I presenting it in the right way? Can I improve? But, in order to get constructive feedback, people have to tell you that something you're doing, or not doing, isn't working. That's frequently taken as negative feedback, but it isn't. Let's explore this. If there's a feedback form for a session. It says that 1 is bad, 5 is great and you put a 1, or 2, you didn't like the session. But, if you don't leave a comment, that's just negative feedback. If the comment is something along the lines of "You suck." That again is negative feedback. But, if you say…
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09Oct 2014 by Grant Fritchey No Comments

Speaker of the Month: October 2014

Professional Development
I saw a whole bunch of great sessions last month. I was all over the place from Las Vegas to San Diego and then Antwerp and Utrecht at Connections, two different SQL Saturday events and SQL Server Days. The speakers just seem to keep getting better, making this more difficult. But, I was privileged to see someone's very first time presenting and he did a great job. My speaker of the month is Enrico van de Laar (LinkedIn, Twitter) and his session No More Waiting - An introduction to SQL Server Wait Statistics. Let me say up front, I messed up his plans when he asks right at the start "Is there anyone here who doesn't speak Dutch?" and I was the lonely hand going up in a room of about…
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02Oct 2014 by Grant Fritchey 3 Comments

The PASS Board: #passvotes

PASS
Ever been in a fight? Ever been in one that's not completely going your way? I've done this and seen this in the martial arts and, unfortunately, on the street. As you start to lose the fight, you tend to fold in on yourself. It's a natural reaction. You're protecting the vital organs from injury. But, in a fight, it's actually the wrong thing to do. This is referred to as the defensive crouch. Watch some videos of MMA or fights on the street, or even boxing matches. You'll see it quick. I think the PASS Board is in a bit of a defensive crouch right now. I am running for the board. And I have pledged myself, both to myself, and to the PASS organization, to run a positive…
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27Sep 2014 by Grant Fritchey 1 Comment

PASS Votes… A little bit more #passvotes

PASS
I am putting up an abnormal Saturday morning blog post in support of the actions taken by the PASS Board last night. The story so far... In order to eliminate all the excess ballots (I received 5 one year although I only used one) being sent to eligible members of the PASS organization, a requirement to update your profiles in such a way as to firmly establish one each was implemented. Great idea. Unfortunately, somehow, the communication just didn't make it out to everyone. And, some people didn't quite get their profiles updated the right way. Suffice to say, when the ballots when out on the 24th, there were a lot of very disappointed and frustrated individuals, many of them long-time and dedicated members of the PASS community. The Board…
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