A little time has passed since we found out PASS didn’t allow Steve Jones (Blog – @Way0utwest) on the ballot for the Board of Directors election, and I’ve heard a lot from friends of mine on both sides. There’s a lot of passionate disagreement when somebody who’s done all this can’t make the cut:
- Steve Jones helped build SQLSaturday as a regional event, something PASS had failed at repeatedly
- He runs SQLServerCentral, the biggest SQL Server community online (blows the doors off SQLPass.org in more ways than I can count)
- He’s led the way by blogging and recording webcasts several times a week for years
Steve leads by example, full stop. It seems incomprehensible that a man this community-oriented can’t make the PASS Ballot, but let’s take a step back. Let’s pretend this wasn’t a community election at all, but a database outage. Let’s put this discussion in a different light, an imaginary conversation between a database administrator and the boss:
…
Boss: “I just got a call from the users. They’re screaming because one of their favorite databases is down.”
DBA: “Yes, but five other databases are up.”
Boss: “What?!?”
DBA: “They’re great databases, and I think you’ll find they’re – ”
Boss: “So? The one they want is down. What’s the story? Is it corrupt?”
DBA: “No.”
Boss: “Well, what happened? Was it some kind of accident?”
DBA: “We followed a process. Here’s a copy of it.”
Boss: “Where’d you get this?”
DBA: “From the board over there. It’s been posted for a long time. You could have said something before we followed it.”
Boss: “What? And you just followed it word for word? Didn’t you stop to check it or ask for help from others in the community?”
DBA: “The team got together and discussed it quite a bit privately, but we couldn’t change the process.”
Boss: “You couldn’t change something? You? Last week a vendor tried to get you to install software using the SA account, and you flat out told them no, even though it was a part of their written process. Why did you follow this one?”
DBA: “I can’t tell you that due to security and privacy reasons, but let’s just say that database wasn’t the right fit for us. We really believe that database should not have been part of the organization.”
Boss: “Wait – didn’t we have a problem around this time last year when you followed a process?”
DBA: “Yes, but let’s focus on all the improvements I’ve made. And I’m here voluntarily, you know.”
…
See how ridiculous this sounds?
If wanting Steve Jones to bring transparent communications to PASS is wrong, I don’t want to be right. I’m trying to see both sides, but I just don’t get it. I have personally asked Steve repeatedly to run for the Board because he has a solid track record of doing things that PASS needs to do – not just talking about them, but doing them. I went so far as to tell a Board member, “If you don’t believe in Steve’s ability to lead the community, it’s not Steve’s problem – it’s yours.” I really wanted PASS to learn and grow with Steve’s help. I am so bummed out that PASS chose not to let Steve on the ballot, and I care a lot about this issue. The only way to express my passion is with a 1980s music video:
[...] don’t want to keep rehashing the past, because it’s been done (here, here, here, and here, to name a few; if you want a LOT more reading material, the elections site has a bunch of blog [...]