Jun 10: blogs.oracle.com ... part 2
The other part of Kevin's blog that was very relevant to my recent musings was the section titled 'Aristocracy or Meritocracy'. He talks about the close contact he enjoys with some of the techies at Oracle Corp.
"These days when I find myself sitting with Vice Presidents or members of the technical staff in Oracle Server Technologies Division (ST) or doing something like writing a jointly produced whitepaper with ST (as I am right now on a cool Oracle11g feature) ..."
I'd already been thinking about this in the light of Brian Duff's blog, which encouraged similar activity.
"We need to connect the bloggers outside Oracle (the number of whom has grown enormously over the last few years) who care about our products with the engineers inside Oracle who care about and build those products."
Brian's blog had come after my original rant and I'd already been questioning this type of statement I made there. (There were a few similar examples.)
"Maybe I'm being harsh, but the world is full of largely uncritical writers enjoying their travel expenses and free drinks whilst raving about how release blah-point-blah will change the business landscape or perfume X will change your life."
I think Brian's argument is much better than mine, but I just have a degree of paranoia about the dangers of 'getting into bed' with any large company. Then I thought it over some more, discussed it with Mark Rittman quite a bit in the pub, and it occurred to me that there are several leading lights in the community who I have loads of respect for who receive invitations from Oracle including travelling expenses. Am I suggesting that they say whatever Oracle or some other company wants them to say?
No, of course not. What matters most here is the attitude of the recipient. Do I think Kevin's going to wax lyrical about the current implementation of ASM because he knows the lead engineer? Is Jonathan Lewis going to say the Cost Based Optimiser is flawless because Oracle pay him to record a few seminars; or claim that Method R is the only performance tuning methodology because he presents at Hotsos? Of course not, because I trust them as individuals. In fact, I've never found the technical people who work for Oracle to be dishonest corporate mouth-pieces!
I have a lot to learn about how to cope with such invitations, they're still new and only occasional, but at least there are examples out there to learn from and I'm genuinely grateful for that.
In the end, I think if the software engineers in Oracle, Microsoft, Sun or wherever want to engage people in the community then, fine, as long as everyone maintains their integrity. Some of my favourite moments attending conferences have been the ability to discuss Statspack or AWR with the people who work on them and my cynicism shouldn't stand in the way of that. In the end, I am pretty keen on Oracle's software. It's one of the reasons I'm such a big fan of strong user groups. As long as Oracle have some techies visiting us (which they do) and not just marketing people (which I can understand) then their contribution is more than welcome.
I also shouldn't be so distrusting of people. I blame it on the parents!
You know what this is really about though, right? I need a paid holiday to San Francisco one day
Switching track a little, what of this statement from Kevin?
"When I think about it, it seems my blog more than deserves at least a link from blogs.oracle.com, the bigger question is what criteria goes into that blogroll? Is it aristocracy, or meritocracy?"
Regular readers will know that I've often raised the same question. But, if we're going to question the integrity of the blogs.oracle.com 'selection process' then, while we're at it, we'll have to question the Oracle ACE process as well as the Oak Table Network (the OTN in the title of part 1 of this blog, not Technet!). All of these have their own process and as far as I can tell, none of them have easily measurable criteria. There's always a human element so they can all be open to misinterpretation, abuse, simple cock-ups and so on.
Maybe the safest thing is not to give *any* of these things too much credence? I'm not turning my nose up at any of them and they've been positive and welcome invitations but, really, don't you think there are tons of people out there who are just as qualified but people just don't know who they are yet?
Still, my mum doesn't know them either, she still thinks the Oracle ACE award is pretty and I'm not going to shatter her illusions
Good, I feel better now. It might not be obvious but I'm feeling less cynical than normal. Sadly, some main fuses have just blown, so it looks like it'll be Sunday house maintenance after all, rather than mucking around with Oracle. Oh, well, that technical stuff will be along shortly ...
#1 - Brian Duff said:
2007-06-10 14:01 - (Reply)
If you ever manage to get that paid holiday to San Francisco, I'd be glad to top it off by adding a free beer
I think that in most of the interactions I've had with customers, there's a great deal of mutual integrity based on a common desire to just get stuff done and make technology work. I think and hope that's generally how it works.
BTW, the Oracle ACE thing and the blogs.oracle.com selection process are deep, outstanding mysteries to me too much of the time. In the case of ACE, especially their allocation to employees (the doing of which I think is a bit strange in the first place, but probably I don't really understand the aims of the program).
Anyhoo: just so you know that things aren't necessarily any clearer "from the other side" 
#3 - Peter K said:
2007-06-10 20:12 - (Reply)
I think the key is as long as everyone maintains their integrity.
Given the fiasco with Microsoft Vista/Acer laptop giveaway to bloggers, you could understand why.
I think that regardless you are going to get someone who is going to scream "shill" so as long the blogger can look at themselves in the mirror every morning and know that they have not been "bought", that's the yardstick of measurement.
Can I get a free trip to Asia instead of SF (too close to home)
#4 - Doug Burns said:
2007-06-10 23:03 - (Reply)
Given the fiasco with Microsoft Vista/Acer laptop giveaway to bloggers, you could understand why.
I hadn't heard of that, but now I'll go and investigate
... as long as the blogger can look at themselves in the mirror every morning
Aha, one of my personal touch-stones ... Then again, who is to say you're not completely deluded and see what you want to see? (Sorry, I'm in danger of going off on a complete tangent soon ... )
#5 - Gabe 2007-06-11 18:06 - (Reply)
Every industry has KOL programs - many times at different levels – and, nowadays, the business of influencing is more relevant than ever. Good, bad or just plain ugly? All three of course, it is just a question of perspective and circumstances really.
Oracle ACE, Oracle Regional Director, are Oracle’s KOL programs for technologists … the selection process has to do with the "O" in "Key Opinion Leaders". And that’s about it. The mystery for me is not how the title is being granted; rather how it gets revoked.
And that’s because the key to "meritocracy" is that merit has to be proven continuously or else it is just a plain, old "aristocracy" model with its fallacy of innate superiority.
How do I become an expert? … is now a recurring question in various forums. Apparently, good DNA, stroke of luck and hard work is no longer an obvious answer.
The pursuit for credentials over skills and knowledge is being replaced or complemented by the pursuit for fame over skills and knowledge. It is getting harder to find real teachers/mentors … and it is not because skills and knowledge are in short supply … it is just hard to distinguish them from the mass produced, overly hyped or self appointed leaders.
I guess, there are good parts in everything … it is all about retaining those and ignoring the bs.
This is a good ending for my comment too …
Good, I feel better now. It might not be obvious but I'm feeling less cynical than normal. Sadly, some main fuses have just blown
