Rich Murnane's Blog

DataGeek & The Age of the Platform...

2012-02-01T08:06:00.000-05:00

DataGeek just finished publishing a reviewing a book named "The Age of the Platform" on Amazon.com! Here's what I wrote: I really enjoyed this book, primarily for three reasons. It’s current, relevant, and interesting. Current: Phil Simon is writing about the four hottest companies in today's world, he calls them the "Gang of Four" (Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon). Simon's book

DataGeek & The Sexy Data...

2012-01-25T07:22:00.001-05:00

DataGeek's gone too far and now he thinks his data is sexy, kind of just like LMFAO, kind of... Clearly DataGeek is loosing his marbles! We should all be very greatful that BitStrips doesn't allow characters without shirts! Until next time...Rich Related Post: DataGeek wasn't feeling well yesterday, to see what happened click here...

DataGeek & Medical Reasons...

2012-01-24T07:03:00.000-05:00

DataGeek's caught a bug and is feeling down and out, can you guess what's wrong with him? Inspired by the Sharon Osbourne Smashing Pumpkins resignation in 2000 which she said, "It was with great pride and enthusiasm that I took on management of the Pumpkins back in October, but unfortunately I must resign today due to medical reasons... Billy Corgan was making me sick!!!" (source

DataGeek & the "Moves Like Jagger"...

2012-01-18T10:37:00.002-05:00

DataGeek's back from vacation and bringing in 2012 Mick Jagger style. Until next time...Rich Related Post: See how DataGeek spent his holiday season here... Related Post: See how DataGeek rocks out to the Sugar Hill Gang's "Rapper's Delight" here... Here's the "real thing"...

DataGeek & The Holiday Break...

2011-12-29T10:14:00.000-05:00

DataGeek's taking it easy these last few days of 2011. The only "DataGeek" thing he's doing until the new year is listening to the OCDQBlog "DQ Radio" which can be found here. Until next time and seasons greetings...Rich Related Post: DataGeek's neighbor is probably going to win something they shouldn't. To see what happened, take a peek here...

DataGeek & "Must Have Tech"...

2011-12-21T07:45:00.003-05:00

DataGeek's neighbor is convinced that they have found the "Silver Bullet" (Golden Elixir, the Meaning of Life, etc.). Clearly DataGeek isn't convinced, but do you think he's right? "Ho Ho Ho" & until next time...Rich Related Post: DataGeek was singing a Christmas Carol last time. To see what happened, take a peek here...

DataGeek & Raindrops on Roses...

2011-12-16T09:27:00.000-05:00

DataGeek's feeling a little goofy today and is singing a little song about a few of his not-so-favorite "data" things. Today's post was clearly inspired by another (much better) cartoon today which is called "Savage Chickens". Check out "Savage Chickens" here. Wishing you and your data a Merry Christmas and until next time...Rich Related Post: DataGeek was learning all about

DataGeek & "Platform Day"...

2011-12-09T08:54:00.001-05:00

DataGeek's friend wrote a book called "The Age of the Platform" and the author (Phil Simon) has since decided that today (December 9th) shall now be known as "Platform Day"! Too bad DataGeek hasn't had time to finish the book (He's only half way through it)! To learn about the book or the author take a peek here. Until next time...Rich Related Post: DataGeek went "old school" last

Dilbert & the Manual Data Entry...

2011-12-05T07:43:00.001-05:00

No need for a DataGeek when there is a recent Dilbert referencing DATA!!! Until next time...Rich Related Post: The last time Dilbert-did-data was back in September. To see what happened, take a peek here...

DataGeek & the Rapper's Delight...

2011-12-02T08:45:00.001-05:00

DataGeek's "getting jiggy with it" today, dancing to "Rapper's Delight" by the Sugar Hill Gang. DataGeek better stop goofing off and get back to work now! Take a listen to the original here. Until next time...Rich Related Post: DataGeek had to the "Doctor Database" thing earlier this week. To see what happened, take a peek here...

DataGeek & the dying database...

2011-11-29T09:09:00.001-05:00

One of DataGeek's Oracle databases isn't behaving today and I think he's finally "loosing it". Let's hope that DataGeek regains his composure and doesn't completely go bonkers like Charlie Sheen. Until next time...Rich Related Post: DataGeek was called to court last week. To see what happened, take a peek here...

DataGeek gets called to court...

2011-11-18T09:08:00.001-05:00

DataGeek has been burning the midnight oil lately and is a little grumpy so sure enough he's been called to court to explain his actions. Let's hope that DataGeek doesn't get in as much trouble as Col. Jessep (Jack Nicholson) did in "A Few Good Men". Until next time...Rich Related Post: DataGeek was a bit concerned about his shop's suppy chain and the risks associated with having

DataGeek & The Thailand Flood...

2011-10-28T08:30:00.001-04:00

DataGeek, the good corporate citizen he is, is concerned about the impact of the Thailand flooding on his organization's supply chain today. Most organizations don't manage the risks of their supply chains associated to acts of nature (and other "bad stuff"), but good organizations do and they end up ahead of their competitors. Until next time...Rich Related Post: DataGeek was

DataGeek & the big stick...

2011-10-27T11:21:00.000-04:00

In honor of Teddy Roosevelt's birthday, DataGeek decided to bring a big stick to work today. Let's hope he doesn't whack anyone on the head with it! Until next time...Rich Related Post: DataGeek was inspired by the Lionel Richie "Hello" song poster viral thing going around. Take a peek here...

DataGeek & the "Hello" song...

2011-10-27T09:12:00.000-04:00

Insipired by the Lionel Richie poster which is spreading (like all good viral things do), DataGeek is wondering if it's him they are looking for. Here's a link to the poster via a Google Search. Until next time...Rich Related Post: DataGeek was warding off some bad guys recently, trying to do some Jedi mind tricks. Take a peek here...

DataGeek & the Jedi Mind Trick...

2011-10-25T07:39:00.001-04:00

DataGeek is in trouble today, it looks like all the "bad guys" have come for his databases. Until next time...Rich Related Post: DataGeek's journey isn't always quite as easy as people think. Take a peek here...

DataGeek & the journey...

2011-10-14T09:27:00.000-04:00

DataGeek is on the path to "Mature Data Management" and becoming "data aware", but he better watch out, the path isn't so clear and it's riddled with safety issues. Each of our journeys will be different and we'll make some errors and step into some minefields along the way, but trust me, it's worth it. Until next time...Rich Related Post: DataGeek shares some wisdome on the ETL/ELT

DataGeek & the ETL/ELT debate...

2011-10-13T06:30:00.000-04:00

DataGeek is sharing some wisdom here and is convinced that if you're getting the job done and you're consistent, does it really matter? I've had this conversation probably a dozen times with people and it's a little bit like "religion" because some people believe so firmly in one way vs. the other. At the end of the day all that matters is that we're moving on with life, getting our jobs

DataGeek & the bad memories...

2011-10-12T07:00:00.000-04:00

DataGeek is having nightmares tonight, or maybe not? Until next time...Rich Related Post: DataGeek shared a design pattern for loading text files into a databse yesterday, take a peek here to see it...

DataGeek & the design pattern...

2011-10-11T07:52:00.002-04:00

DataGeek is at the whiteboard again!. There are days when he feels like all he does is draw pictures, which is kind of fun sometimes. The real DataGeek uses this simple design pattern as a launching point for many "I've got a file which needs to be loaded into a database" projects. I plan to write more about this pattern one of these days, we'll see... Until next time...Rich Related

DataGeek & the reports request...

2011-10-10T08:03:00.000-04:00

DataGeek gets called into his boss's office to talk "reports". Think DataGeek is going to be successful here? Sometimes people don't know what they need or want, but that's OK, it's our job as DataGeeks to help them understand what reports or data they can use to succeed! Until next time...Rich Related Post: DataGeek was searching for cool quotes and found an appropriate one by

DataGeek & the timely quote

2011-10-07T15:52:00.003-04:00

Until next time...Rich

DataGeek "Suites Up"

2011-10-05T07:16:00.000-04:00

DataGeek is geeking out yet again. Today he's wondering around the beach in a suite trying to recruit people to sit in on his "panel" discussion! It's the last day here at the DataFlux IDEAS conference for the real DataGeek (yours truely) and I'm scheduled to sit on a panel to discuss industry trends for data management. Lets just hope most people haven't already "checked out"! Please

DataGeek the pirate

2011-10-04T07:09:00.000-04:00

DataGeek is geeking out again! Today he's dressed and talking like a pirate and it's not even "talk like a pirate day" (September 19th)! The real DataGeek (yours truely) is in Florida at the DataFlux IDEAS conference this week. Yesterday's training day was awesome. I spend the morning learning how to be more productive on the DataFlux Data Management Platform and the afternoon learning

DataGeek goes to the show!

2011-10-03T09:01:00.000-04:00

DataGeek is "down at the beach" going to classes today! Well, it's not all "sand in your shoes" the entire day, but getting out of the office and getting training in a beach resort in Florida isn't too shabby. I'm sitting in at the DataFlux IDEAS conference this week, looking forward to some good learning and some good networking (http://datafluxideas.com). Until next time...Rich

DataGeek & the "C-Suite" visit

2011-09-30T07:58:00.000-04:00

DataGeek is summoned upstairs to the "C-Suite" today! Too bad it's only for "management by magazine"... There were tons of tweets and posts all over the web yesterday about this "sponsored post" which can be seen article (Google for it here) which was titled "Experienced data geek wanted (by everyone)". At first I thought is was some sort of "robot" activity or spam, but sure enough it

DataGeek & "The Edge of Glory"

2011-09-28T07:25:00.001-04:00

DataGeek is working late tonight and it looks like he's feeling a little bit "Lady GaGa slap happy"! Until next time...Rich Related Post: DataGeek finds himself pondering the age-old saying "if a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" here...

DataGeek & the falling data...

2011-09-27T07:46:00.000-04:00

DataGeek is pondering the effects of troublesome data today, particularly what should be done if nobody knows about issues? Until next time...Rich Related Post: DataGeek went away for the weekend but can't escape the data, take a peek to see what happened here...

DataGeek & the not-so vacation...

2011-09-26T07:56:00.000-04:00

DataGeek is trying to escape the day-to-day life of "fighting data", but it looks like there's no escape! The real DataGeek (me) was away this past weekend at the Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg, Virginia. On Sunday morning while grabbing some coffee from the coffee shop at the lodge a nice woman approached me and asked me if I could help her get her iPad connected to the wireless

DataGeek & the #FF hashtag...

2011-09-23T08:10:00.000-04:00

DataGeek is getting his Twitter Follow Friday list together! As explained here by Jim Harris of OCDQBlog, each week many of us DataGeeks out there "mention" each other on Twitter and use the #FF hashtag so folks know "who they should be following on this Fantastic Friday". Until next time...Rich Related Post: DataGeek is certain nobody is going to nominate him for "International

DataGeek & International Data Stewards Day...

2011-09-22T07:15:00.000-04:00

DataGeek is hoping his neighbor nominated him for "International Data Stewards Day", which you can learn about here. Nominations are due on September 26th and the celebration will be on the 11th of October! If you know someone please go ahead and nominate them, I'm sure they'd appreciate the recognition! Until next time...Rich Related Post: Take a peek at what happens to DataGeek

DataGeek & the tool approval...

2011-09-21T08:29:00.001-04:00

DataGeek and team have determined that a Data Quality tool would help them in their strategic data management program. So they've gone out, done their due diligence and found a tool they know will help them right away. Now all they have to do is get everyone else on board! Until next time...Rich Related Post: Take a peek at what DataGeek learned at his company's sales meetings here

DataGeek & the sales meetings...

2011-09-14T08:25:00.001-04:00

DataGeek was invited to sales meetings this week and is learning a ton and he's seeing tons of parallels between "selling products" and "selling mature data management". It's doubtful we'll see DataGeek again this week since he's busy getting an "MBA in a week" here at the office. Until next time...Rich Related Post: Take a peek at DataGeek's silly raingear here...

DataGeek & the rain gear...

2011-09-09T07:36:00.001-04:00

Once again DataGeek is having problems on the "social front". Although some people consider DataGeek to be the "data wisperer", he's really got to sharpen those social skills. Until next time...Rich Related Post: See what happens when Dogbert (from Dilbert) does database consulting here...

Dilbert: Dogbert does database consulting...

2011-09-09T07:32:00.000-04:00

Dilbert's friend Dogbert is doing some database consulting today, I wonder how much it's going to end up costing? Note here: I have nothing against consultants (I do consulting work too), I just have to post this one since it's a "Dilbert / Data" comic. Until next time...Rich Related Post: See what happens last time Dilbert "did data" here...

DataGeek & the fake zeros

2011-09-08T08:48:00.000-04:00

DataGeek's doing the ETL thing today on a new file feed his organization is getting from a partner, but the documentation on the file has him a little concerned. Note here: This is not a test, this is an actual problem I had yesterday, "Yeah Me"... Until next time...Rich Related Post: See what happens when Clouds are in DataGeek's forcast here...

DataGeek's first "cloudy" day...

2011-09-07T09:01:00.000-04:00

DataGeek's boss has been reading the industry magazines again so here comes the cloudy weather. There's lots of discussion about the "cloud" lately and like all "new" things we'll all have to go out and see how storing our data "out there" benefits our organizations. Fellow Data RoundTable blogger Joyce Norris-Montanari writes a little bit about it here which I'd recommend you taking a

Dilbert: Data Please...

2011-09-06T08:29:00.000-04:00

Dilbert's team does it again! The real issue with this situation isn't the "data", it's a "project management" issue! Until next time...Rich Related Post: See what happened last time a Dilbert cartoon talked about data here...

DataGeek & the Data Quality Vagrant...

2011-09-06T07:54:00.001-04:00

DataGeek's neighbor today is bummed out because the coffee shop "closed down", but it looks like it's just a case of a Data Quality issue with mischievous crowd-sourcing vagrants. The more we as a society rely on data which is crowd-sourced the more our society will understand the impact and confusion caused by Data Quality issues. Crowd-sourced data is littered with inconsistencies, both

DataGeek & the solitary island...

2011-09-01T07:55:00.002-04:00

DataGeek is daydreaming today, pondering the future of his own definition of MDM (Mature Data Management)... DataGeek probably needs to stop worrying about what the tipping point is going to be and should probably get back to work! Until next time...Rich Related Post: See what happens when DataGeek comes to work in a police uniform here... Related Post: Kelle O'Neal has written a

DataGeek & the police uniform...

2011-08-31T07:25:00.000-04:00

DataGeek is about to lay down the law and try to build a data governance committee but he fails to acknowledge that you "catch more flies with honey than vinegar". DataGeek needs to figure out a better way to get his organization on board and I'd suggest he start at the top and find an executive sponsor who might share his love for mature data management. Until next time...Rich

DataGeek & the funny tweet...

2011-08-30T07:30:00.001-04:00

DataGeek loves Twitter and the posts his DataGeek friends post. Take a look at what his friend @MarkHorseman found last week! In all seriousness, a database view with 1,000 columns is downright just too big to manage and work with. It's extremely doubtful that all the columns (attributes) in this table are dependent on the unique key. It's time for Mark's friends to go back to the

Dilbert: Data, Intuition and Witchcraft

2011-08-26T07:43:00.000-04:00

Every once and a while Dilbert tries to use data to reason with his manager, this time it doesn't look like it's going to work. No need for a DataGeek post when you stumble upon a good Dilbert which references data. For those of you on the east coast of the US I wish you the best of luck this weekend with Irene. I have a feeling we'll all need it... Until next time...Rich

DataGeek searches for DR plans...

2011-08-25T08:40:00.000-04:00

DataGeek is a little worried that 2012 is right around the corner. Earthquakes and hurricanes and flash floods and bears. Oh, my! You really should have some "fresh" Disaster Recovery (DR) plans ready for all types of events, both natural and man-made (like people truncating tables by accident). Until next time...Rich Related Post: See how DataGeek saves the day with ISO codes here,

DataGeek & the DC Earthquake...

2011-08-23T15:34:00.004-04:00

DataGeek is feeling "the earth move, under his feet" - just like Carole King is always singing about! You've gotta love the USGS.GOV website. I checked the website within a minute or two of being "shaken not stirred" here in Maryland and sure enough their site illustrated the 5.8 (now ranked 5.9) quake epicenter-ed about 60 miles away from here. Until next time...Rich Related Post:

DataGeek & the ISO countries...

2011-08-23T11:18:00.007-04:00

DataGeek gets asked a simple question today and as everyone knows, DataGeek just can't answer a simple question with a simple answer. I bet you've done what DataGeek is about to do! DataGeek can't "do nothing", he has to do something to help out. Hopefully someone remembers to go in and update the list pulled from ISO every once in a while. South Sudan was just added (or hasn't

DataGeek & the 17 indexes...

2011-08-23T08:21:00.003-04:00

DataGeek is digging around today and he's come across a common issue, a table with way too many indexes. Seen this before? Is there a "golden rule" for too many indexes on a single table? No, there really aren't any good "golden rules" but it's somewhat safe to say that a "guideline" would be that if the table is mostly read only (mostly SELECT statements, not many INSERT/UPDATE/

DataGeek talks tough...

2011-08-19T07:51:00.008-04:00

See what happens when DataGeek's neighbor does one of the worst things any DataGeek can do: The big "OOPS, I thought I was in development". This ever happen where you work? Hopefully you have processes and procedures in place so this doesn't happen. I've seen it happen a few times over the years to both very senior DBA's and junior analysts. People deserve second chances and

DataGeek: It's Complicated...

2011-08-18T07:26:00.003-04:00

All DataGeek wants to do is sign up for a new magazine, but he's having trouble answering some of the registration form questions... This ever happen to you? David Loshin has been writing and talking about a joke which inspired this silly little cartoon today: Question: "What is the most dangerous question to ask data professionals?" Answer: "What is a customer?" Mr. Loshin is going

DataGeek helps with sales...

2011-08-16T07:41:00.003-04:00

Today DataGeek is going to get an awesome opportunity to help his shop make some sales. Let's hope he remembers to "sell the sizzle and not the steak"... Opportunities like this are uncommon and too bad DataGeek doesn't have more time to impress his company's future clients! Until next time...Rich Related Post: See how DataGeek learns about the "new" MS Excel here...

DataGeek and MSExcel '07...

2011-08-14T10:17:00.005-04:00

DataGeek is staying late at the office tonight to learn about the "new" version of Excel installed here on his machine at his new shop. While I'm very excited that Microsoft has added so many features in the newer versions of Excel, I'm concerned that allowing folks to create worksheets with more than 64,000 rows is going to work against many of the principles of managing data in a mature

DataGeek helps data model...

2011-08-10T08:45:00.007-04:00

DataGeek faces a surprise today from his software engineer friends. This ever happen to you? Software engineers and project managers are sometimes put under extreme pressure to get things done fast. Because of this, they sometimes have to ask their DBA to "review" table designs at the last minute. This issue here is that if the DBA finds something not-so-good, there is essentially no

DataGeek thinks he rocks... NOT!

2011-08-10T07:19:00.005-04:00

For a short moment DataGeek thought everything in the world was OK... The reality here is that some people want perfection when in fact a small margin of error is acceptable. I don't really have a "golden rule", but if having a small number of errors in a database is not life threatening, then your time and effort (Return On Investment a.k.a. ROI) is most likely better spent elsewhere, such

DataGeek goes to Happy Hour...

2011-08-09T17:34:00.006-04:00

Today DataGeek finds himself in one perhaps his most challenging position yet, trying to socialize with the team over drinks at Happy Hour... The statistic probability of DataGeek making friends probably just dropped as quick as the stock market dropped earlier this week! Some of us DataGeeks have trouble talking non-DataGeek but it's something we all need to practice so we get invited out

DataGeek is still a newbie...

2011-08-09T07:58:00.002-04:00

Today DataGeek finds himself in one of those situations where if handled correctly he could come out of this looking like a rock star... Any DataGeek who's been around the block for a while has been asked to go "fishing" for information (not "phishing", that's for the BadGeeks). If your considering becoming a DataGeek I'd strongly recommend spending some time learning about "fishing" first.

DataGeek's fourth day on the job...

2011-08-04T11:07:00.004-04:00

It's time us DataGeeks got our heads out of the data and figured out the real reason our employers give us paychecks!Today is DataGeek's fourth day on the new job and he's excited to figure out what's going on with "The Business"!Until next time...RichRelated Post: See how DataGeek's making friends with "the guys" at the watercooler on his 3rd day here...

DataGeek's third day on the job...

2011-08-04T07:04:00.005-04:00

It's been said over and over and over and over (and here and well, you can Google for it here):"You can't improve what you don't measure"Today is DataGeek's third day on the new job and he's getting "blank stares" when asking a simple question about measuring the quality of their data.Until next time...RichRelated Post: Take a peek at what DataGeek's uncovered on his second day on the job here...

DataGeek's second day on the job...

2011-08-02T16:46:00.006-04:00

Microsoft Access is fantastic, except when...more than one person begins to use it...it becomes "too big"...the person who built it leaves & you need to make a change to it...you need to convert it to a production platform (better database) and all the tables and fields have names which are mIxEdCaSE and "h a v e s p a c e s"...it becomes corrupt... Heck, Microsoft knows Access DB's become

DataGeek's first day on the job...

2011-08-02T14:59:00.007-04:00

Being a DataGeek isn't always as much fun as it's cracked up to be, especially on the first day of joining a company or a new project.Here's a little cartoon which reminds me of a few of my "first days"...Until next time...Richp.s. Thank you @PhilSimon for the inspiration!

The Most Interesting DataGeek in the World...

2011-07-13T07:59:00.003-04:00

He once had some bad data in his database, just to see how it feels... #MostInterestingDataGeek #DataQualityHe once punched his #DBA in the nose, and the DBA apologized... #MostInterestingDataGeek His data tells him when something is wrong, and also apologizes... #MostInterestingDataGeek #DataQualityHis data smells like cologne... #MostInterestingDataGeek If he were to send an email without

Twitter for "Micro Customer Management"...

2011-07-07T07:09:00.005-04:00

I've experienced three new "Twitter firsts" for me in the last 24 hours. Two of these "Twitter firsts" illustrate very nice examples of what I am calling "Micro Customer Management" and the third I'd say was a bit of a flop.The first "Twitter firsts" arrived on my phone yesterday. An organization which I've been following on twitter (@BICommunity) sent me a direct message via twitter to inform

The #DataLadies of Twitter...

2011-07-01T11:00:00.005-04:00

Inspired by the Webbiquity post called "The Nifty 50 Top Women of Twitter for 2011" and the #DataLadies hashtag I've been using to flag the DataGeeks of the kinder sex, I decided to compile a list of the #DataLadies I follow on twitter.So, in no particular order, I present to you some of my favorite #DataLadies on twitter to follow...@jilldyche Jill DychéAuthor, Presenter, Entrepreneur, Data

The rise and fall of a two social media giants...

2011-06-30T07:49:00.007-04:00

Within 24 hours I learned of the rise of a new social media platform (Google+) and the fall of another (MySpace, which was purchased for a wimpy $35 million).The Rise...Google's announcement of Google+ is interesting in a "me too" sort of way. Essentially they are going to release a bigger/cooler version of Facebook and they are betting that their features and functionality are so good that they

The Data Roundtable...

2011-06-14T07:35:00.005-04:00

For just over a year now I've also been blogging on the DataFlux "Data Roundtable" blog which has been quite fun. The posts I write there are a little more "serious" and "mature" then the goofy stuff I typically write on this blog. If your are interested in data and would like to read more "by me" (and by better Data Geek writers then me) I'd suggest you take a peek at the Data Roundtable as

Dear Data...

2011-05-17T07:36:00.003-04:00

Dear Data,It is seven a.m. Tuesday, May 17th and I'd like to have a little chat with you. Today is a day like many others and I thought I'd take a minute to send you a note telling you what I had in store for you today.The day will begin by my reviewing the fifty or so emails about you which have accumulated in my inbox over the last 13 hours. Most people go home at the end of the day and stop

Gibberish...

2011-05-11T06:58:00.003-04:00

My nephew recently posted the following on his Facebook wall: "I hate listening to people who talk to everyone like they are puppies". I totally get it kid. When listening to these people talk I often wonder if they know their "Puppy Talk" sounds like verbal vandalism...On occasion I'll receive emails & resumes from people who reference system names from their organizations as if I should know

Data Quality Search Trends...

2011-04-17T16:53:00.010-04:00

I've caught a stomach bug this weekend so instead of my normal weekend routine (chasing kids and doing yard work) I've been "couch-bound" watching TV. I'm finally starting to feel a little better so I've been playing around on the laptop. There's nothing good on CraigsList today so I decided to take a peek at the latest and greatest "Data Quality Search Trends" on Google Trends. Overall, the

Wrong side of the bed (or business)...

2011-04-08T07:08:00.005-04:00

Technology vendors aren't seeing what is happening in industry. They continue to try to pigeonhole employees of organizations into buckets of "Business User" and "IT" and I'm not buying it. It's a new world out here in the workforce and I'm starting to get insulted that these vendors aren't seeing the light. It my inbox this morning I found some spam from a rather large technology vendor who

A Few Of My Favorite Data Related Things...

2011-04-05T08:04:00.005-04:00

We all have days where we need to be reminded of the fun things we do. My sister posted a Facebook post last night quoting the Julie Andrews song "A few of my favorite things" and I'd thought I'd put a "Data" spin on it.Try singing along to this one and I hope you enjoy...PHP on my desktop and Oracle on SolarisPL/SQL procedures, functions and packagesData models, blogs, wikis and workflow

April Fools' Day... A Data Quality & Governance Problem?

2011-04-01T08:05:00.002-04:00

April Fools Day is a fun day in my family. First off, my wife always gets me with a "there's a spider on you" joke. Each year I say to myself "I'm not going to fall for it" but this morning as I was leaving for work and gave her a goodbye peck on the cheek as she slept she opened her eyes and said "there's a spider on your shirt!" and sure enough I freaked out, go figure...Origins of April

Oracle Analytics - I wish there was one more aggregate function...

2011-02-17T08:38:00.004-05:00

I'm a huge fan of Oracle's analytic functions and try to use them in my SQL whenever I can. I do however wish there was just one more tool in this very neat toolbox, MOST_COMMON().The toolbox currently consists of the following functions, I've created a test table (DDL and inserts below) for those of us who are visual learners and like to see examples. Please note, these are very simple

Ask Not...

2011-01-20T07:02:00.005-05:00

Fifty years ago today (January 20, 1961), U.S. President John F. Kennedy (a.k.a. JFK) implored Americans to: "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country!"Today I'm here to implore all you Data Geeks out there to"Ask not what you can do for your data. Ask what your data can do for you!"Backwards? You might think so but I'm thinking it's time we take a moment

The "Mosaic Effect"...

2011-01-08T12:13:00.003-05:00

A few months ago I had the privilege to sit in on a presentation by an architect at the data.gov website. It was quite an interesting presentation and I was very glad I took some time out of my schedule to see what they were doing, where they started and what was next. During the question and answer portion of the presentation, almost every single question asked to the presenter was about the

Cloud Databases - FY11's "hot" ticket

2010-12-15T07:15:00.006-05:00

I'm going to be completely unoriginal and predict that FY11 will be the year of "Cloud Databases"!I spent a few minutes yesterday poking around on database.com and I'm thinking this could be as big a disruptive technology as any that have come our way. Note here: I love the domain name and tried to register it back in the late 90's but it was taken. Here are some notes and thoughts on cloud

Inspiration from Grand Buildings, Mainframes and Clouds...

2010-11-10T18:32:00.003-05:00

Inspiration is a funny thing. It comes in all shapes and sizes and comes in all different ways. Today’s inspiration comes from visiting Union Station in Washington D.C.. The DAMA-NCR meets across the street from Union Station a few times a year and typically I’ll stop into Union Station for a quick stroll or a bite to eat at one of the shops before the meetings start.As I sit in the main hall,

One Particular Harbor...

2010-11-05T07:49:00.003-04:00

Growing up by a beach here in the US pretty much guarantees you to either love or hate Jimmy Buffett and his island style music. Folks who tend to love it feel a strong connection to the lyrics and the simple rhythms. Those who don’t like it are typically either sick of hearing it all the time or just plain grouchy in general. I myself tend to have the strong connection and find myself humming

50+ Things Every Data Geek Should Do Before They Die...

2010-10-22T10:15:00.003-04:00

In no particular order, here's a list of things I believe each and every Data Geek should try to accomplish/do during their tenure as Data Geek...Work on a Merger and Acquisition team (you want to do WHAT in 40 days?)Manage Data AnalystsManage Database AdministratorsNever give up trying to make things better - even when your told toWrite a bookWrite a blogJoin a clubExperience a software roll-out

Have you filled a data bucket today?

2010-09-17T09:48:00.005-04:00

One of my kid’s favorite books is called “Have You Filled a Bucket Today: A Guide to Daily Happiness for Kids” and can be found here at this link. The overall gist of the book is that each person in the world carries with them an invisible bucket and these buckets get filled when other people do kind actions for them (such as the receipt of a smile) and gets emptied when people do not-so-nice

Graphics are worth a thousand words, but be careful...

2010-08-31T06:55:00.009-04:00

Everyone knows a picture is worth a thousand words and Information Graphics (Data Visualizations) are no exception. Information Graphics themselves should tell you an entire story and need no additional explanation or discussion other than a line or two neatly bundled with the graphic.In today's news I stumbled upon a neat discussion at ERP Software Advice about "Oracle Mergers & Acquisitions" (

Oh! The Places You and Your Data will Go!

2010-08-10T08:11:00.007-04:00

Congratulations!Today is your data’s day.Your data is off to Great Places!It’s off and away!You have integrity in your head.You have hopes of good quality in your shoes.Your data will steer itself in any direction it may choose.Its on its own. And you know what you know. And YOUR GOVERNANCE committee should decide where it should go.But you’ll find it in Excel spreadmarts & lookups and down

Data Quality issue "in real life" - and we thought we could get away with it...

2010-08-04T08:42:00.004-04:00

Yesterday morning my VP sent me a link to a vendor who was selling 23" desktop monitors for $46.00 (w/ a $20 shipping fee). Firmly believing that we'd get away with it, a bunch of us knuckle-heads whipped out our AMEX cards went online ordered away - thinking we'd be getting a sweet deal on some monitors.Sure enough, 20 minutes or so later we all received emails stating the "orders could not be

Using Oracle SQL Developer to naviate the MySQL waters

2010-07-29T08:48:00.005-04:00

A unique "opportunity" came my way this morning when I had to poke around in a MySQL database we have here in our shop (which "came with" a tool we use).I've poked around via command line and used the MySQL workbench before but I thought I'd take the "opportunity" today to try to connect to the database using Oracle SQL Developer.So, a little Google-Kung-Fu and found this link which helped.Steps

Data Visualization Links...

2010-07-21T07:17:00.005-04:00

For years I've been fascinated with Data Visualization (aka DataVis, aka Visual Representation, aka DataViz) and I keep a big folder of clippings of great graphs and neat pictures of data represented in graphics. We spend soooo much time on acquiring data, profiling and analyzing data, monitoring data, archiving it, etc. that I consider Data Visualization projects to be the "fruit of all our

Primary and Foreign Keys in Oracle - back to the basics

2010-07-08T07:13:00.003-04:00

Sometimes we get so far along in life, we "forget" about the basics. I've been designing databases for quite some time now (most in Oracle) and yesterday someone asked me something so fundamental I was completely taken by surprise because I didn't know the answer off the top of my head.Q: Can you create a Foreign Key in a table which references a column with a unique index in another table (but

The loneliest number

2010-06-14T17:50:00.006-04:00

When I was a kid, I used to go down to my Dad and uncle's car shop each and every Saturday and spend the day playing in people's cars while Dad and Uncle Jimmy did their mechanic magic. Playing on an old car radio which was sitting on a shelf (connected to a series of old car speakers they had strung throughout the shop) was typically a radio station playing "oldies". I remember Dad and my

The job market as bad as we all think?

2010-06-04T07:08:00.004-04:00

I'm not much of a conspiracy theory kind of guy, but our recent experience with the job market here at my little IT shop in Annapolis Maryland does not reconcile with all the bad news you continue to hear in the press. We've had an open position now for close to three months for a database developer and I can tell you we've only gotten perhaps three dozen resumes and we've only interviewed a

The Data Management "A-Team"

2010-05-21T07:37:00.005-04:00

Way back when I was young and impressionable, I loved watching this TV show called "The A-Team". The show started out with what I thought was a very cool quote by an unseen narrator: "In 1972 a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Los Angeles underground. Today, still wanted

"A day in the life" of a Data Geek

2010-05-18T07:05:00.013-04:00

For one reason or another, I decided to keep track of my day yesterday on the little spiral bound notebook I carry in my pocket (yes, I'm a Geek and yes, that is my chicken scratch over to your right). This particular "Manic Monday" is a pretty standard Monday for me and is by far my craziest day of the week. I spend lots of time at meetings and driving to client meetings. I won't be able to

Data Management: Marketing Your Data Governance Efforts

2010-05-14T07:33:00.004-04:00

Have you ever wondered why the all the hard work you do doesn't seem to be appreciated? Chances are it's because your not "Marketing" your efforts correctly or to the right people within your organization.It doesn't matter if your doing Data Quality, Data Modeling or Database Administration - marketing (communicating) your efforts to the folks that matter within your organization is critical if

Data Management: Client Advisory Board – What would you talk to your clients about?

2010-05-04T13:38:00.003-04:00

I’ve got the unique opportunity today to present and chat (about data) with over a dozen of my shop’s largest clients. Imagine if you will that you had a chance to talk with one or two people from each of your largest clients and these clients worked for some very large organizations, firms you find on lists like “Fortune 500” kind of clients. What would you talk to them about?For a few days I

Data Quality - "Show me the money"

2010-04-29T08:07:00.003-04:00

Depending on who you talk to, the best quote of the movie "Jerry Maguire" is either: - "You complete me" - for the sappy folks, even requoted in one of the Batman movies - "Help me help you" - Marty Moseley posted a really good post around this theme on the Initiate Blog - I recommend taking a read when you get a moment. - "Show me the money" - perhaps one for those out there on who find

How to identify your "Data Quality Savages"

2010-04-20T07:28:00.006-04:00

Went downstairs to our company kitchen and found the following inspiration for today's post... A few weeks ago, I published a post titled "Data Quality Scorecard by client - and beyond...". In the post you'll find some steps on how to build a simple data quality scorecard for your client listing. We use a data quality score here at our shop to identify which client's have significant data

Something happened on the way to better data quality...

2010-04-16T08:29:00.009-04:00

In our organization's journey to better manage data quality, I'd have to say "Something happened on the way to better data quality"...What happened? Well, somewhere along the way we realized that around 80% of the "issues" we were having were not "technology" problems but "social" issues. These "social" (or human issues) include, but are not limited to: - incorrect or incomplete understanding

Seeing data while getting my hair cut - time to be committed?

2010-04-09T07:04:00.004-04:00

I think I've finally come to a point where I believe either I'm completely nuts and should be committed (get it? COMMIT;'ed!).Yesterday afternoon I stopped into a barber shop which caters to men who want to get their hair cut and watch sports while doing it. I have to admit I'm not a sports nut but there is something to be said about watching TV while getting your mop trimmed - even though I

2010 US Census - embedding a map in your site

2010-04-07T09:39:00.003-04:00

The 2010 Census is in the works here in the US and on their website they post code you can use to embed their response widget in your site, so here goes: