Leadership and Failure

How Do People Learn? There’s ample debate about whether people learn from mistakes. Don’t believe me? Search and see for yourself. There are compelling arguments for  both learning from our mistakes and not learning from them. In engineering and software, I think we learn from our mistakes. I can hear you thinking, “Why do you think …
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Bad Presentations

In just a few short weeks I am attending the PASS Summit 2018 in Seattle. Whenever I attend an event like the Summit or SQL Saturday I attempt to attend presentations of interest to me. I love learning new stuff! Good and Less-Good Most of the presentations I attend are good. Some are really good. They …
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It Costs Precisely $0.00USD to be Nice

Be nice. We all have bad days. I know I do. It seems like I get interrupted about 1,000 times more when I’m busy than when I’m not busy. Why is that? Is it some vast universal conspiracy to rob me of productive work? Is it all in my head? I am not sure. One …
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I am a Product Manager (No, I’m Not… But I Can Explain)

I was about to click the Publish button for this post about my new role as a product manager when my friend and brother, Scott, called. I mentioned it and Scott said, “You’re not just a product manager. You’re a problem-solver.” Scott is correct. Hence the parentheses in the title of this post. “Is This The …
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My Day – Sunday, 22 Jul 2018 – #SQLCareer

6:30-9:00 AM Awaken. Weigh in, pray, read the Bible, check the burn barrel. This morning I weigh 200 pounds. Prayer, praise, gratitude, thanking God for another day. This morning I read Romans 8:31-39. I am teaching our adult Sunday School class this morning and we are making our way through Romans. Powerful. Coffee. Breakfast. Boy-wrangling. It’s …
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My Day – Saturday, 21 Jul 2018 – #SQLCareer

5:30-9:30 AM Awaken after hitting snooze thrice. Weigh in, pray, read the Bible, check the burn barrel. This morning I weigh 201 pounds. There’s a bunch to pray about. I start with praise followed by gratitude, thanking God for another day. This morning I read Psalm 150 again (now reading Psalms from last to first), …
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My Day – Friday, 20 Jul 2018 – #SQLCareer

5:06 AM – awaken after hitting the snooze on my phone alarm once. 5:06 – 9:30 AM – Weigh in, pray, read the Bible, coffee, check the burn barrel. This morning I weigh 201 pounds. There’s a bunch to pray about. I start with praise followed by gratitude, thanking God for another day. This morning …
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My Day – Thursday, 19 Jul 2018 – #SQLCareer

#SQLCareer post for Thursday, 19 Jul 2018 4:26 – 5:30 AM – Wake up (beating the alarm), weigh in, pray, read the Bible, coffee, check the burn barrel. Christy and I have been on a keto diet since 5 Mar. I started out at 238 pounds. This morning I weigh 199 pounds. I’ve been bouncing …
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“You Do Not Know What You Are Doing”

Peeves make lousy pets. Knowing this doesn’t help; I still keep a few pet peeves. One of my pet peeves is this statement, “You don’t know what you are doing.” Why is this a pet peeve? It denies the obvious fact that everyone one of us, everywhere, is still learning. “My Name is Andy and …
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