If Coach Wooden Led a Team of DBAs

Coach John Wooden is a legend. He led his beloved UCLA Bruins to ten NCAA National Championships in twelve years. That is an unparalleled accomplishment in any sport, in any endeavor really. So, I began wondering: what if Coach Wooden led a team of DBAs? What would he do?

How Coach Wooden’s approach applies to Successful DBAs

Coach Wooden famously started each season teaching his group of highly skilled, elite basketball players how to tie their shoes. He believed deeply in the fundamentals. He also believed in preparation, both mentally and physically.

So, how would this apply today? What if Coach Wooden led a team of DBAs rather than a team of star athletes like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Walton?

Here are a few areas that come to mind.

• Thorough understanding
• Attention to detail
• Continuous learning
• Proactive planning
• Mental resilience

Let’s look at each one.

Thorough understanding

Great basketball teams and great players are students of the game. They study their opponents. What do they do well? Where are the weaknesses in their game? What strategies or approaches should we pursue against them?

Just as basketball players need to study their opponents, DBAs must have a deep understanding of the database system they manage. This involves staying updated on the latest technologies, best practices, and industry trends.

They set aside time to learn, to research their craft, and to improve their skills. They research performance tuning techniques, high availability options, and of course disaster recovery planning.

A well-prepared DBA builds a strong foundation of knowledge and expertise. And understands that learning never stops.

“It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.” – John Wooden

Attention to detail

While playing professional basketball in the NBL, John Wooden once had a streak of 134 consecutive free throws made over a 46 game stretch. 134 free throws. Without missing a single one. That’s just doesn’t happen by accident. You have to practice for it.

Like the meticulous attention John Wooden gave while playing, and while leading other basketball players, DBAs must pay close attention to detail in their work. This goes far beyond making sure you include a WHERE clause before running an UPDATE or DELETE statement. It’s in every area of a DBAs responsibility.

When writing stored procedures, DBAs use best practices. For example, they avoid implicit type conversions by paying attention to data types. (See How Do Implicit Type Conversions Affect SQL Queries? – The SERO Group). They are also aware of nested views and how they can affect performance (See How do Views Affect SQL Server Performance? – The SERO Group)

Successful DBAs are concerned with security and who has access to the data, with backups and their ability to restore, and with monitoring and knowing the health of each SQL Server in their charge.

Attention to small details matters.

“It’s the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen.” – John Wooden

Continuous learning

Success doesn’t just happen. It doesn’t just fall into place. regardless of how talented you, how smart you are, or how well you played the last game, success takes practice. Dedicated. Determined. Practice. Continual learning. Continual improving.

And that goes for the DBA, too.

Successful DBAs know that SQL Server is not static. Microsoft is constantly improving the product, refining it to better meet the ever-changing and ever-growing needs of the marketplace.

And as a result, DBAs need ongoing learning and development. There are always new things to explore, existing areas to go deeper in, and related components to leverage.

Successfully DBAs embrace that. They actively seek opportunities to expand their knowledge. They go to user group meetings, they watch training videos, they attend webinars, and they deep-dive into self-study.

A prepared DBA is always looking for ways to enhance their skills and stay relevant. They aren’t “too busy,” They find the time to improve.

“Never mistake activity for achievement.” – John Wooden

Proactive planning

Seldom does a basketball team just walk out on the court without a game plan. No. Most have a strategy that that they believe, if executed well, will pave the way for their success. What defense will they run? What mismatches can they exploit? Will they try to score “in the paint?” Or, take the outside shots?

Just as a basketball team prepares game strategies in advance, a DBA plans for potential scenarios and challenges before they happen. They develop backup and recovery strategies. They document and practice disaster recovery plans. And they put proactive monitoring systems in place.

Prepared DBAs anticipate potential issues and have mitigation plans in place. They want to know about potential issues before they become disruptive events.

“Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.” – John Wooden

Mental resilience

In basketball, as in life, there are ups and downs. You’ll have good games and not-so-good games. You’ll win some games, and you’ll run out of time in other games. After each game, you must review what went well, and what you can learn.

But once, you’ve learned from it, you have to move on. You can’t constantly live in the past. You have to look ahead and prepare for the next game.

Similar to Coach Wooden’s emphasis on mental toughness in basketball, DBAs need to be mentally resilient. It’s not uncommon for DBAs to face high-pressure situations. And we need to be able to handle the pressure.

Systems go down. Hardware fails. Data is deleted, corrupted, or worse, breached.

A prepared DBA maintains composure, thinks critically, and acts decisively during challenging times. Then they reflect on what they can learn from the experience. And they move on.

“Don’t let yesterday take up too much of today.” – John Wooden

Does it Coach Wooden’s approach work today?

If Coach Wooden led DBAs today, I believe he would be legendary in our community. Sure, it’s a different era with a different set of standards today so it hard to say for sure. But, I believe much of his approach to basketball and life transfers to the world of today’s DBA.

Want to work with The SERO Group?

We help a lot of companies that used to depend on sysadmins as Accidental DBAs. We provide expert-level DBA team services without the HR costs associated with a FTE. If you’d like to learn more, contact us to schedule a short introductory call.