Growing Speakers in your User Community
Software user communities share a common problem with other support and special interest groups. Finding quality speakers and programs ranks high on the pain list for community leaders. I wasn’t...
View ArticleWhat color do you want that database?
My favourite Dilbertof all time is when the pointy hair boss tells Dilbert that he needs an SQL database. Dilbert is pretty certain the boss doesn?t know what he is talking about. He confirms that by...
View ArticleStart with talking about data models and not data modeling
As a data modeler, I find that some of my fellow IT team members don’t exactly know what I do in my profession. Some think of me as a documentation specialist. Others see me as a DBA. A good percent...
View Article10 Winter Housekeeping Tasks for Data Modelers
It’s that time of year after the winter holidays that my mind turns to decluttering and organizing my house. It only seems natural to extend that attitude to my workplace. Here are ten tasks for data...
View ArticleRealities of a baby boomer data architect
“What would you do if you were stuck in one place and every day was exactly the same, and nothing that you did mattered?” – Phil Conners (Bill Murray), Groundhog Day I am a fan of Bill Murray and this...
View Article10 Random questions on Tom’s mind
I keep my eyes open for things that pertain to the data world. I jot them down in a list of possible blog topics. This morning I took a look at the ever-growing list and decided to take ten items and...
View ArticleEmail to my summer intern
Dear Data Architect Intern, Welcome to the world of data. This summer will give you some insight into the life of a data architect. I hope that by the end of summer you will consider a data-centric...
View ArticleHard data management
Data management is hard. Don’t let any vendor tell you they have tools that will set you free to life on a beach while your data program magically runs itself. Tools can automate pieces of your data...
View ArticleHard Metadata Management
I cringe when I hear “metadata is data about data”. It is true at a high level, but the reality is that metadata is much more compressive than that. It is hard. In my last two posts, I spoke about hard...
View Article