What do you require easily to hand on your desk while you work?

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Ian Roke asked Feb 25, '10

What do you require easily to hand on your desk while you work?

A little bit off topic but I am intruiged in what you guys require/beg/demand on your desk while you work. I don't mean you demand a certain plant or chair I mean what you require to be productive.

I'll start things off...

I have the following things on my desk ready to hand:

Notepad open ready to jot down things as I work.
Flash drive with template scripts, documentations, manuals, etc.
Grant Fritchey's "Dissecting SQL Server Execution Plans".
Brad McGehee's "How To Be An Exceptional DBA".
"SQL Server MVP Deep Dives" book.
"Pro SQL Server 2008 Relational Database Design And Implementation" book.

And that's it really. On my computer I have of course Google on pretty much all the time! ;-)

sql-server best-practice

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Rob Farley commented · Feb 25, 2010 at 09:06 PM

I keep feeling amazed (and a little awed) that so many people value #5 so much.

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Ian Roke commented · Feb 26, 2010 at 07:36 AM

I keep feeling amazed that there is so much good info in one book Rob! :-D

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Answer 1 · 2010-02-25T19:51:04Z

Matt Whitfield answered Feb 25, '10

A picture of my kids (reminds me why I'm there)
Google
Headphones (nothing beats D&B for me to get in the zone)
A chocolate cookie (or multiples thereof)
One cup of coffee that I've just made, and the three half-drunk ones that I haven't taken downstairs yet
A pen & paper
ask.sqlservercentral.com (keeps me occupied during long compiles)

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Answer 2 · 2010-02-25T19:18:07Z

CirqueDeSQLeil answered Feb 25, '10

Google
Books online
Flash Drive
Script Repository that I have created
MP3 collection
SQL Server MVP Deep Dives
Notebook
Post-It pad
Water Fountain
Motivating Employees Book
PASS Summit DVD Collection

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Ian Roke commented · Feb 25, 2010 at 07:24 PM

+1 Interesting list there, particularly 10 and 11. Do you really get an opportunity to motivate people being a DBA? ;-)

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CirqueDeSQLeil commented · Feb 25, 2010 at 08:45 PM

I have the book due to being a team lead and needing to help the team keep a positive attitude.

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Answer 3 · 2010-02-25T20:32:12Z

Fatherjack answered Feb 25, '10

web connection - probably for Google but I tend to go straight to the source so SSC, Stack Overflow/Server Fault, MSDN, SQLServerpedia if I expect its a question thats been put to the community already
Two screens - script on one, UI/Report etc being developed on the other
Multiple desktop software - means I get one for email, SSMS one for monitoring s/w such as SQL Response and one for web browser/Twitter client
Nuts and dried fruit to chew on; lasts longer than chocolate!
Chilled Water + Hot Coffee supply
Any sort of paper to note times/values/phone numbers etc
Outlook - I run my task list in there and its also my work diary/reminder system
On the PC - SQL 2008 Dev Edn, SSMS+BIDS, LogParser, PowerShell, Visual Studio 2008, Excel (you can keep Word and put it somewhere uncomfortable, probably right beside Project), Chrome, Firefox, IE8 and Opera, Twhirl, PasswordSafe, ZipCentral, Acrobat Reader for ebooks
ageing library of dev books from VB6 onwards - mostly for comfort I think!
no photos - I dont want to remember that I'd rather be somewhere else
iPod

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Matt Whitfield ♦♦ commented · Feb 26, 2010 at 04:49 AM

two screens = +1

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Answer 4 · 2010-02-25T21:12:47Z

Rob Farley answered Feb 25, '10

My personal laptop, tethered to my phone... with my own stuff on it rather than the client's.

My phone will contain my todo list, which I need to have open most of the time. Without that, stuff gets missed for too long.

But generally, very little.

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Fatherjack ♦♦ commented · Feb 26, 2010 at 05:32 AM

+1 - for the minimalist DBA!

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Answer 5 · 2010-02-26T01:33:05Z

Tom Staab answered Feb 26, '10

I gave Matt a +1 but wish I could give more because it's so close to my own answer.

pictures of my wife and kids (cause they're awesome)
our wedding DVD -- I rarely actually watch any of it, but the editing was fantastic, and I sometimes like watching the parts that are essentially music videos to Coldplay's "Yellow" and Dido's "Thank you".
headphones -- my preference is psytrance
my green tea and ginseng pills (fantastic mid-day boost)
water and something to nibble on
ask.sqlservercental.com -- So I can try to help someone else during long builds or waiting for long processes to finish or when I'm stuck and just need a break.
a whiteboard as big as possible -- I prefer visual aids when explaining things. This was more important when I was a manager, but I still love my whiteboard.

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Matt Whitfield ♦♦ commented · Feb 26, 2010 at 04:48 AM

whiteboard = definite +1 - it's the first thing I ask for any time I go to someone's office for a contract.

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Answer 6 · 2010-02-26T05:46:12Z

Jeff Moden answered Feb 26, '10

Coffee cup (filled regularly, of course), paper, and a pencil. On my person... personal collection of scripts on a flash drive. Any books I may have are in my satchel and only for the days that I need them to get a particular job done.

On the computer... other than the stuff that comes with SQL Server, something that can open huge files, display line numbers, and hex characters. MS Office, Visio, and access to professional sites like SQLServerCentral.com are extremely helpful. Also, if people actually want me to do something, privs. ;-)

I despise IM but find email to be essential so long as people don't abuse it.

Other than that, I keep it pretty spartan on my desk and I don't need/want tunes. Such is the life of a semi-permanent consultant.

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Ian Roke commented · Feb 26, 2010 at 05:47 AM

Sounds very minimalistic! ;-)

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Jeff Moden commented · Feb 26, 2010 at 05:53 AM

It sure is. I don't have much need for distraction (heh... I have enough voices in my head ;-) and I have to be able to move at a moment's notice.

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Ian Roke commented · Feb 26, 2010 at 06:15 AM

Interested that you hate IM. I find it very useful to get things done in my company. We have teams in India and scattered across the UK so it helps to have one centralised location where we can chat about things.

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TimothyAWiseman commented · Feb 26, 2010 at 03:22 PM

I am a big fan of IM when it is not abused. It can get disruptive if overused though, and it can be intrusive when you really get deep into coding. It is good to be able to turn it off when you are really trying to focus. Of course, I say the same about phones and e-mail notifications when I am really trying to focus.

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Jeff Moden commented · Mar 06, 2010 at 11:13 PM

Hi Ian, Used properly, IM is great. The problem is the people in the next cubes or sitting across from me are constantly IM'ing me instead of just getting off their dead you-know-what's for a simple 2 minute conversation instead of 20 minutes worth of partial questions. I also get IM's from a lot of folks who think I'm "Books Online". When I go to turn the darned thing off, my boss gets all bent out of shape because he might actually have to pick up the phone and call me. I have to look at each IM popup because my boss said he really doesn't want me to miss one of his.

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Answer 7 · 2010-02-26T09:48:57Z

sp_lock answered Feb 26, '10

"It Depends".. ha had to get that in...

Most of my requirement have all ready been mentioned, but I like to keep my nicotine close just in case I come across a bofh. Other useful things are "redbull", chocolate, Protein shakes and wine gums!

I like to also use delicous, so that all the useful blogs are saved and if my machine dies then it "simples" to get them back.

More recently, I like to keep "Deep Dives" on hand!

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Ian Roke commented · Feb 26, 2010 at 10:01 AM

+1 Delicious is definately a saver. If you have Firefox try using Xmarks too which allows you to sync bookmarks between different machines. Very useful!

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Ian Roke commented · Feb 26, 2010 at 10:01 AM

-1 For saying "it depends"!!! :-p

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sp_lock commented · Feb 26, 2010 at 10:15 AM

Will take a look... Cheers Ian

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Ian Roke commented · Feb 26, 2010 at 10:53 AM

Only joking about the -1. I know what you mean. Today for example I've got nothing but junk on my desk! :-)

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TimothyAWiseman commented · Feb 26, 2010 at 03:23 PM

I love delicious. I also am a big fan of weave if using firefox. It is like Xmarks in some ways, but with more capabilities and after the initial set up you can effectively give it no thought and have it work in the background.

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Answer 8 · 2010-02-26T11:02:08Z

Grant Fritchey answered Feb 26, '10

Does Claudia Black count as something I need in order to be more productive?

Anyway...

Books Online
Google
Inside SQL Server T-SQL Querying
Inside SQL Server The Storage Engine
Pad & Pen

Those are the "can't live without" list. On the nice to have list:

Zune
My stack of SQL Server books (and it's a big stack)
Twitter
SQL Server Central

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sp_lock commented · Feb 26, 2010 at 11:25 AM

@Grant, what about "SQL Server 2008 Query Performance Tuning Distilled".. ha. Excellent book by the way!

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Ian Roke commented · Feb 26, 2010 at 11:31 AM

+1 Love it. I've got that book too!

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Grant Fritchey ♦♦ commented · Feb 26, 2010 at 11:41 AM

Thanks guys, and yeah, I actually look stuff up in my books too. I wish I had one of those brains that remembers everything.

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David Wimbush commented · Feb 26, 2010 at 12:04 PM

+1 for Inside SQL Server T-SQL Querying. A brilliant book.

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Answer 9 · 2010-02-26T15:18:48Z

Jeff Oresik answered Feb 26, '10

Desk:

Separate Coffee & Tea Mugs
#2 Pencils(3)
My business card - can't remember office address & phone#
headphones
Train Schedule

Drawer:

SQL Pocket Guide
Transact-SQL: User Defined Functions - Andrew Novick (Received copy from auther)
Phone Charger
Granola Bars

Cube Wall: White Board

software:

Evernote
Notepad
Outlook
Internet Explorer: Home Page: about:blank

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Answer 10 · 2010-02-27T03:42:05Z

KenJ answered Feb 27, '10

wide-mouth mason jar for a drink

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