Looking back on everything, I’m struck by how similar the process was to those we see in ops.  There was a crisis in the middle of the night, scrambling to quickly understand the problem and potential solutions, bringing in subject matter experts, and staying on top of everyone to make sure that they were working the problem.

So I asked myself, what can I learn from this, and apply in my own profession?

Some key things that I learned from the ordeal were:

1.  Stay on top of things.  Don’t make yourself a pain to the people who are working the problem, but do be proactive in learning of any difficulties before they cannot be resolved.  My own, semirandom IT schedule made it easier for me to call and talk to the techs at slow times like 4:00am.  I also found it reassuring to get the same information from different sources; I had a lot more confidence in observations I heard from multiple people with differing responsibilities, such as a tech and vet.

2. Don’t assume that people will reach out to resources.   Not everyone is used to or comfortable with working with other people; very bright and hardworking people may be used to relying only upon themselves.  This is related to #4.

3. People may prefer to work on problems they feel more familiar or confident with.  Initially, Fipsy was the oddball with a questionable chance of success.  My emotions undoubtedly color my opinion, but there seemed to be an attitude that time spent on his problems was diverting resources away from other, better understood, and more solvable problems.  After the first few days and initial successes however, there was a subtle but dramatic shift in attitude as he went from being an oddity to a novelty.  Everyone seemed to take appreciation and ownership, and his care (at least in my mind) greatly improved.

4. A motivated, knowledgeable person can have a tremendous, positive impact.  This is especially true if that person has the respect of others in the process.  Even though our regular vet was over 10 miles away, he was able to apply expert knowledge of the species and of the individual animal by being a tireless advocate and by earning the respect of the DVMs at the emergency clinic.

5.  Focus on the process.  Remember that you are always working towards a goal, and that your efforts should be directed towards obtaining that goal.  No matter how frustrated you may be at times, you should never let your emotions get the better of you and interfere with working towards the goal.

• RSA warns SecurID customers after company is hacked. http://bit.ly/dZsIac [via NetworkWorld]
• We tend to think Japan had “an” earthquake. That rather understates the situation. http://www.japanquakemap.com/ [via James Lileks on Twitter]
• Beyond the Box Score presents their list of the Top 30 Defunct Baseball Logos of All Time http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2011/3/17/2055008/top-30-best-defunct-team-logos-of-all-time
• A capybara was born at San Diego Zoo http://bit.ly/eSaMTG
• Doc Bottlehead has put archives of VALVE magazine online http://bit.ly/gkjehN
• W. Curtis Preston reports that Google backs up Gmail accounts to tape! http://www.backupcentral.com/mr-backup-blog-mainmenu-47/13-mr-backup-blog/370-gmail-software-update-bug.html
• Mentionmap: Explore your Twitter Network – http://webification.com/mentionmap-explore-your-twitter-network

Getting pulled into functional work with Oracle EBS. Don't like the term 'technofunctional' -- much prefer 'funky technical'.

February 28, 2011 5:26 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@thermionic

Tom Kyle

• Runway Girl reports that Boeing has identified that Wi-Fi interferes with Honewell avionics http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/runway-girl/2011/03/breaking-boeing-confirms-wi-fi.html [via Plane Talking]

• Ben Rockwood discusses “DadOps” — and I can relate! http://cuddletech.com/blog/?p=545

• You knew this was coming – Researchers find remote vulnerabilities in automotive electronics http://blogs.consumerreports.org/cars/2011/03/researchers-cars-electronics-can-be-hacked-remotely.html

• Robert X. Cringely writes about major problems the Japanese nuclear industry may be having due to the earthquake and subsequent tsunami http://www.cringely.com/2011/03/flea-powder-may-be-saving-lives-in-japan/

Reference your favorite beers with the Brewery DB plugin for WordPress

Firing your QA: Worst. Idea. EVAR. [Regardless of what Forrester says]

Make Your Software Development Process More Like a Sewer

Washington University in St. Louis Study Asks Participants to Gain Weight [They could have just hired IT workers]

Future features of Solaris 11

Alpha 4 of the next version of DB2 quietly slips out in to the wild

Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual Environments announced

Apple previews Mac OS X 10.7 “Lion”

Stephen Foskett reviews the new MacBook Pro

Silicon Valley VC questions the wisdom of Obama’s Startup America

Have a great weekend!

So consider that, the next time you decide to number versions by letter!

Renesys has blogged about the entire country of Egypt being disconnected from the Internet.  It’s an interesting read:

What happens when you disconnect a modern economy and 80,000,000 people from the Internet? What will happen tomorrow, on the streets and in the credit markets? This has never happened before, and the unknowns are piling up.

Go read both articles and consider how even Western governments have been clamoring for a ‘kill switch‘ on the Internet.

Thanks, Stephen!