Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Lessons Learned in 20 Years at Oracle

I've known Mark, a technical pre-sales consultant at Oracle, for a number of years.  I was bcc'd on the farewell email message that he sent out today, his last working day at Oracle.  As he said, he's learned a few things over his past 20 years at Oracle and thought he would share them.  They were quite simple and powerful reminders - and important enough that I shared them with our entire development and QA teams.

OWN IT —  Things sometimes go off track.   Whether it was something on your team that went sideways or it was another team's responsibility, step up, own the problem and deliver a resolution.  
LEARN IT —  There are always new technologies, solutions, processes, and procedures.   Set aside time to learn and master what is new so that you are prepared when the time comes.   
TEACH IT — When you master something new, find someone else with whom you can share it.  
GROW IT — Your team is incredibly valuable.   Take the time to invest in your teammates and equip them with new capabilities. 
OVERLOOK IT — People can make poor decisions.   Fight the urge to gossip about them.   Look for the best and ignore the rest.  

4 comments:

Tony said...

Great list. For my money the most important one listed was Own It. Too often people are too afraid to admit a mistake, or worse yet, that they don't know the answer to something. It's OK not to know sometimes, be real, state you don't know then go find the answer or solution. I think the other way to say Own It is Be Responsible. Take ownership of your actions, good and bad.

Thanks for sharing.

APEX Developer In the USA said...

Joel,
Great Posting.

Thank you for your continued work in getting APEX so great!!

Tony MIller
Los Alamos, NM

Tom Fuhr said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Tom Fuhr said...

Joel,

I agree with you 100%! - my philosophy in all areas of life.

Warm regards from Germany
Tom Fuhr