Can the ancient Chinese philosophy of Tao be applied to
database administration?
Go with the flow of things, and you
will find yourself at one with
the mysterious ways of the universe.
-Chuang Tzu
The senior DBA rocked back in his chair and smiled.
The newly hired apprentice DBA was running back and forth from his terminal to
the developer’s cube back to his phone and over to the fax machine. Frustrated,
the new hire yelled over at the senior DBA “How can you be so calm? Things are
falling apart!”
“Things are always falling apart and yet life goes
on,” muttered the senior DBA under his breath. He was a practitioner of Tao.
What is Tao? More accurately, it is the Tao Te Ching
and it proposes a model by which the individual and society can embody a
philosophy to achieve a harmonious and balanced existence. Written by Chinese
philosopher Lao Tzu over 2000 years ago, the Tao (or the Way) allegedly is the
universal power through which all life flows. Whether you subscribe to the
philosophy of Tao or not, Lao Tzu’s manuscript contains nuggets of wisdom on
how to go with the flow of life. Our senior DBA has applied the philosophy of
Tao to his job. Let’s continue with our eavesdropping on his on-going situation.
As the apprentice DBA continued running around like a
chicken with its head cut off the Taoist DBA calmly glided his mouse across the
top of his desk, clicked, and typed something on his keyboard. In a minute or
two the apprentice DBA walked into the senior DBA’s office and said, “Boy am I
glad that is over. I don’t know what exactly I did to solve that problem, but I
am exhausted.”
The senior DBA shook his head and pointed to a
printout he had thumb tacked to his wall that read “Don’t Panic!” He showed the
apprentice the script he had run and told him why it solved the problem. A good
DBA is prepared to resolve issues he has seen before because he is a packrat
with a good memory. “That means you must learn from every action you take,”
said the senior DBA. “Running around like a crazy man when things are going
wrong will never help. Remaining calm and taking things one step at a time will
help. And always remember the situation and the steps you took to remedy it.
Things have a way of repeating themselves.”
The senior DBA continued, “Skill and knowledge are
required to be a successful DBA, but sometimes you need to master the art of
getting out of your own way. You must learn how to act without forcing
conclusions.”
Lay plans for the accomplishment of the difficult
before it becomes difficult;
make something big by starting
with something small.
-Lao Tzu
As the apprentice DBA took notes an application
programmer walked around the corner and nervously stated “There’s a problem
with the database!” The senior DBA muttered “guilty until proven innocent”
under his breath. The apprentice DBA wheeled around in his chair and brought up
his performance monitor. He clicked and typed and moved through menu after menu
shaking his head and muttering to himself. The senior DBA chuckled and clucked
out a cryptic acronym: “PEBCAK” he said.
After about 15 minutes or so the apprentice DBA
started to grill the application programmer with questions. “What is the
problem?” he asked. The programmer replied, “My program worked and ran quickly
yesterday and now it just takes forever to finish. I figured you must have
changed something in the system, right?”
“No, but what did you change in the program?” asked
the apprentice DBA. “Nothing that should matter,” replied the programmer. “It
worked yesterday.” The senior DBA, observing the conversation as he sat in the
corner like a bemused buddah, said “It is another day.”
Ignoring him the apprentice ran back to his terminal
and kept looking for a database problem. The senior DBA looked at the
programmer and said “If your changes do not matter, take them out of the
program.” The programmer scrunched up his nose and muttered “I can’t do that. I
guess they might matter. I’ll double-check things and get back to you.”
Pure in heart, like uncut jade
he cleared the muddy water
by leaving it alone.
-Lao Tzu
The senior DBA walked over to his apprentice and said
“We’re not likely to see him again today.” The apprentice turned away from his
monitor and asked “I guess it was a program change that caused it after all,
huh? By the way, what does PEBCAK mean?”
The senior DBA smiled and nodded, whispering “Problem
Exists Between Chair And Keyboard” into his apprentice’s ear.
Slowly, the apprentice was learning the way.