I read the PASS Officer Election announcement from June 15th with a bit of trepidation.  There was something about the announcement which made me uncomfortable, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. As a bit of background, the PASS ''officers'' are also known as the Executive Committee (ExeCo), as described in the PASS Bylaws in ...

I would like for this “Read Article” link at the SSWUG.org website to take readers interested in my writing to my writing and not to a screen to sign up for a service. This isn’t the first time I’ve asked about this – I’ve requested my work not be linked on this website in the past. I believe publishing my work without my permission is not ...

Introduction In November 2010 I wrote in The PASS Board Election Review Committee: I would like to see the PASS Board Elections process and procedures reflect trust in and respect for the community. In June 2011, PASS published the PASS ERC Recommendations document and a link to the document can be found here. Good Work I know the members ...

Introduction  I'm taking Brent Ozar's (Blog | @BrentO | SQLPeople) suggestion regarding my ramble-rant about the software business. At the Spring 2011 DevConnections Conference in Orlando, I had an opportunity to sit down with Brent for a good long chat. One of the first things he said to me was ''You need to put up a landing page ...

Introduction This post is the thirty-first part of a ramble-rant about the software business. The current posts in this series are: Goodwill, Negative and Positive Visions, Quests, Missions Right, Wrong, and Style Follow Me Balance, Part 1 Balance, Part 2 Definition of a Great Team The 15-Minute Meeting Metaproblems: Drama ...

I did a lot of writing in 2010. Unfortunately, I didn't do a good job of keeping all of that writing equally distributed throughout all of the channels where I'm active. So here are a few more posts from my blog, put on-line during the months of November and December 2010, that I didn't get posted here on SQLBlog.com: 1. It's Time to ...

It seems like I've known Arnie Rowland (blog | twitter) since the dawn of time.  But it's really more like the last several years, or at least since Arnie achieved Microsoft MVP status, that I really got to know him.  Arnie has also been trying to get me to speak to the user group he leads in Portland, but coordinating it has ...

Introduction The other morning I awoke and said to myself, ''Self, you need a million bucks.'' After breakfast, I waltzed down to the local bank. I slipped into the vault and managed to grab a million bucks while no one was paying attention. Quietly, I slipped out of the vault and made it home with the money. My logic? The money was there ...

The topic that never seems to lie low for long - the selection and election process for PASS governing directors.  (I also wrote extensively on the qualities of a good director-level candidate in this blog post).  I decided to create a spoke on my blog specifically for discussions around PASS governance and related issues called ...

Pardon me, sir. Do I have a dog in this fight? Do I have a dog in this Fight? If I did, it'd be the Warner Brothers Barnyard Dog. After my term of service on the PASS board of directors ended in December of 2009, I fully intended to stay far, far out of the way.  It's an intention that I've largely been able to fulfill,excluding the ...