Agile Database Techniques: Effective Strategies for the Agile Software Developer

Foreword by Douglas K. Barry

I want everyone reading this foreword to turn immediately to Chapter 23 of this book. Look at the table containing recommendations on how to become more agile. Do the entries in the table make you feel a little uncomfortable? Good. Do you think these recommendations are unnecessary? Why is that? Take my advice: You really need to do what Scott is suggesting. These are the first steps you can take to improve the chances you will have a successful project. And they may just be very uncomfortable steps to take.

Some mental discomfort is good for people who want to make a change. There is no question that change is needed in how we build (or fail to build) our software systems. This includes our databases. If all we do is what we find to be comfortable, then there is little chance for change.

To me, Scott is suggesting in Chapter 23 that it is good to stand in the other people's shoes for a while. Really stand. Talking with other people and expressing empathy for their situation is good, but not good enough. Actually trying to do another person's job is a very different experience.

I know, because I have stood in many people's shoes. Early in my career, I was a data-modeling guru at a large corporation. Then, I got involved in software design and had to deal with other people's database designs. After that, I was the CIO of a startup database company. That was followed by many years in database-related standards development. At the same time, I started helping ...