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Hello Dear Reader, last time on Day's of Our Lives there was
an election, some people resigned, and other's were appointed. Let's join this already in progress. So it appears that the 2011 PASS Board
Elections did not go quite as smooth and un-controversial as this old friendly
neighborhood DBA would have liked.
"So Balls,"
you say, "What's going on?"
Good Question Dear Reader, I'm glad you asked. Brent Ozar(@BrentO | Blog)
has already done a good job of cataloguing not only his comments but just about
everyone else's so far, read here PASS Board
Brouhaha BS Bulletin. Now this
election season I tossed my hat in the ring to participate in the NomCom, I'm on
the NomCom What's a NomCom, so I feel a little more personally vested this
time around.
THE NOMCOM GET'S
BALLSY(SP?)
Going into the job I had read about the previous year's
controversy. I wanted to know what I was
getting into, I also wanted to make sure that the Community first and foremost
got a fair shake. I've had the
opportunity to do some very cool things this past year. And hopefully I'll get some more chances to
do even more. But I'm not so inundated
into the PASS nomenklatura that I consider myself an insider. Most the time I feel like Tim Drake that just tricked
Batman into letting me into the Bat Cave.
Two Years Ago if you had asked me who ran the PASS board,
that was responsible for the PASS Summit, I would have told you that it was in
some Super Secret fort up in Redmond where Paul Randal, Andy Warren, Steve
Jones, Brent Ozar, and Kimberly Tripp sat around with secret decoder rings
solving the world's problems with the help of Microsoft's finest.
So when I submitted to be on the NomCom I did not expect to
get on. People were supposed to submit,
and then there would be an election to fill the 3 Community slots to give the
Community-at-Large the majority seats on the Committie. Instead of that, only 3 people submitted and
we were appointed to the slots.
I want that to sink in for a moment, ONLY 3 PEOPLE
SUBMITTED. Not in a bad way, but in a
OMG I COULD HAVE DONE THIS, kind of way.
If you had any opinion on this election, you could have
participated. Seriously. The time commitments were there, but they
were not nearly what I was expecting.
Very early in the NomCom process Thomas Larock (@SQLRockStar | Blog) said something that stuck with me the
entire time. "We are not here to eliminate
anyone. Our job is to put forward the
best slate of candidates for the community to decide upon." I knew we were there to trim the slate if
needed. I wasn't sure how this would be
achieved yet, but I never forgot that.
We were not there to decide but to make sure that the community could
decide.
When it came to the candidates we were told that at most we
could present a slate of 12. 6
applied. Once again I would like that to
sink in. ONLY 6 APPLIED. There was no secondary International
Candidates to choose from, there was no one eliminated. As a matter of fact we could have accepted
more candidates if anyone had applied.
At that point our job consisted of vetting the candidates to
see that each would be able to fulfill the duties of a PASS Board Member, and
to rank them and present them to the Board.
The Board approved the slate and our job was done.
WHAT SIDE ARE YOU ON BALLS?
Just to clear a couple things up, I like Brent. I think he's swell. As do I Tom Larock, Sri Sridharan, Kendal Van
Dyke, Geoff Hiten, Bill Graziano, and I would probably like JRJ even though I haven't'
met him.
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Brent reminds me of one part Stephen Colbert another part Intrepid
reporter. He would probably win an
election in a LANDSLIDE, (in South Carolina), but his schtick isn't something
that lends itself to stuffy board rooms.
I could be wrong, I'd love to see Brent on the Board. But let's face it, the man knows what he
wants to do in the SQL world. Sitting on
the PASS Board isn't one of those things, or Brent would already be on it. But just like Stephen Colbert we need to know
when we look like @$$holes, and he is the guy that is willing to call us on it.
I feel for Sri. Sri I
think that you campaigned just as hard as, and harder than most people out
there. The effort you put into your
campaign really impressed me. You have
done a lot of amazing things down in the great Republic of Texas, and SQL Rally
is going to be an amazing event. I hope
you do not lose heart in the community.
In the days before personal computers when we just had
telephones to talk over I remember my Dad once telling me that people were a
lot braver over the Phone than they were in person. When I asked what he meant by that he told me
that, "People would say things over the phone that in person would get
them punched, and if they were brave they wouldn't bother with the phone call."
I think that as adults we have to recognize that Sometimes
we have arguments, Sometimes we shout
when we should listen, Sometimes we say things that we regret, and Sometimes we
wish that no one was around to see the whole sordid mess. Sometimes you let these things pass because
nobody wins, if you just keep tossing mud.
I know I'm guilty of that, and I would bet I'm not alone.
We had 6 fabulous candidates. 3 won.
1 was appointed. Everybody said
if any of these 6 get elected we are all winners. Well congratulations, we got 4 out of 6. Not bad.
Not bad at all.
SO WHAT ARE YOU GOING
TO DO ABOUT IT?
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Sure I think that JRJ would have made a great 7th candidate,
sure I wish that as part of the NomCom we would have had a chance to examine
him as we did the other candidates. But
I know from what I'm reading he is like so many others in the SQL
Community. Great. Passionate.
Dedicated.
So next year I'll volunteer.
And if I ever feel I'm up for serving on the PASS Board I'll run. In the meantime I'll work with my local
chapter. I'll help with the next SQL
Saturday Orlando. I'll speak at any
event and User Group that will have me.
But more importantly you should too Dear Reader! Because the only thing that we the SQL
community love more than a little Brouhaha is Volunteers. And you will be
welcomed with open arms. And who knows maybe next year I'll read about you on the NomCom, or vote for you when your running for the PASS Board. A journey of 1,000 miles begins with just one step.
Thanks Again,
Brad
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