We all need some Support

There are times when we all need some help. Sometimes we ask for help, other times we don’t. How does one become a good decision maker around help? How can we know when the right time is to ask or not? It seems like an obvious problem, but without an obvious solution.

The basic answer is; it depends. If you think about your everyday activities at your job you are often placed in new situations that you may have never encountered before. At times you are asked to take your game to another level and show leadership in the activity. Each of these situations will require you to ask for help. Whether you ask from a mentor or more senior person who you can ask how they would approach the scenario. There is a lot to be said about learned from others. As a member of the team it is all important to know when you can look to your team to help. You can provide the motivation and the direction, and the team can them rally behind you. Just like the goalie (me) that makes the big stop at the right time, I still need the help of the rest of the team to win. Which we did last night...so on to the semi-finals!

The IOUG helps you by enabling you to network with the best Oracle minds in the world. This is an cooperative environment and I encourage people to reach out and become a part of the IOUG. At some point everyone needs help that is independent and very knowledgeable; this is where we can reach out to the community to solve issues.

Over the past few months Oracle has been launching the new support platform My Oracle Support. This platform provides customers with a single interface for all supported products. Oracle expects it to help solve problems by providing more sharing between customers and Oracle. We have been told that it will be rolling out in a staged approach so products and technologies will be added. Sorry but I don’t have the exact timetable, but the IOUG will be sending out notices when we this will be happening for database and middleware. It does look like an exciting facility. Oracle is also running some support seminars around the world that will help you in your transition.

So know when to ask for help. Nobody likes a know-it-all, unless they know something you don’t.