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:

  1. 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.

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  2. Joel,
    Great Posting.

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

    Tony MIller
    Los Alamos, NM

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  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  4. Joel,

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

    Warm regards from Germany
    Tom Fuhr

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