Team with the best
Db2® LUW Performance Tools
company in the World

Cough Syrup Doesn’t Fix Pneumonia - When Self-Treatment Makes Things WORSE

March 10, 2015, 9:01 pm
Posted by Lacy in Productivity
Cough Syrup Doesn’t Fix Pneumonia - When Self-Treatment Makes Things WORSE By Scott Hayes, President and Founder, DBI Software

Your team is just like you - a bunch of go-getters. They’re smart, proactive problem solvers, dedicated to acting at the first sign of problems. This sounds good - great even - but how they act at the first indication of a problem can make all the difference between success and failure in business.


It’s not unusual for an employee to regard a problem as a personal failure, and instead of getting help, they’ll try to solve the problem themselves—before it gets any worse, and before the boss notices.
This sounds good, but think of it this way: suppose you’re coming down with a condition that has the potential to turn into pneumonia. As you begin to feel sick, you could either see a doctor, or treat yourself. If you go to a doctor soon enough, the problem is stopped in its tracks. But let’s say you treat yourself: you take some cough syrup, some zinc, and some ibuprofen. You’ve masked some symptoms, but inside you, the sickness - and the danger - and the cost to cure the danger - is rapidly growing.

In my field, self-medication is one of the leading causes of database disaster. The earlier a problem is spotted, the easier it is to fix - self-cures mask symptoms and magnify problems. So as a leader, it’s vital to:

  1. Have good doctors: trusted, outside, third-party resources whose only financial interest is providing you with actionable, economical information and insight. That is, they solve your problems as opposed to selling into them.
  2. Train your team about the dangers of self-treatment, and the discipline of working with consultants and third-party resources.
Your competition is doing this. Isn’t it time you started?

What You Must Know
In business, self-treatment can make things dramatically worse.

Free White Paper “Open in Case of Emergency:  The C-level Emergency Guide to Database Problems.”

Learn how to: Control spiraling costs in an emergency. Solve business-threatening problems instantly. Cut through the fog when no one knows what to do.

Download Now.

Printer friendly