kendra little

SQL Server Management Studio Is as Relevant as Ever

By Kendra Little on August 14, 2019

Category: database-administration , sql-server

🔥 UPDATE: Azure Data Studio (ADS) was retired on February 6, 2025, with support ending on February 28, 2026. Additionally, SSMS has been modernized and is no longer based on the legacy Visual Studio shell—it's now built on Visual Studio 2022 with 64-bit support and improved performance.

For more details, see the Azure Data Studio retirement announcement and Erin Stellato's announcement about SSMS modernization..

Sometimes you keep a classic around.

How to Persuade Your Company to Change

By Kendra Little on July 19, 2019

Category: devops-automation

Tags: organizational-change , proposals , communication , leadership

Like a lot of developers and database administrators, I do a fair amount of short-term problem solving during the course of my normal work week.

Managing Cross-Database Dependencies in Builds (Redgate Video)

By Kendra Little on June 25, 2019

Category: devops-automation

Tags: sql-change-automation , cross-database-dependencies , database-builds , circular-dependencies

Building your database code is an essential practice to ensure that it compiles from source and that dependencies are met. But things can get tricky when you have objects in some databases which is dependent upon objects in other databases: or even circular dependencies.

How Developers and DBAs Collaborate in a DevOps World (Video)

By Kendra Little on June 13, 2019

Category: devops-automation

Tags: devops , team-topologies , communities-of-practice , dba-role , dear-sql-dba

You’re a DBA, and your development team is all-in on doing DevOps, and they want to include the database. Should your DBA team limit the permissions or options for automation? Or should you instead re-think how your two teams work together?

A Letter to My 20 Year-Old Self

By Kendra Little on June 11, 2019

Category: tech-community

Tags: tsql-tuesday , work-life-balance , personal-growth , impostor-syndrome

This post is a part of #tsql2sday, a monthly community ritual where a topic is proposed by a community member and everyone is invited to join in.

This month’s topic is from Mohammad Darab, who encouraged us to: “Write your 20 year old self a letter. If you could go back in time and give yourself advice, what would it be?”

The advice I would give to my 20 year old self is the same advice I give to myself today, more than 20 years later:

DBAs: Stop Denying Sysadmin to Developers

By Kendra Little on May 30, 2019

Category: devops-automation

Tags: permissions , sysadmin , development-environments , environment-drift , automation , trust

I recently chatted with some folks who have a permissions problem in SQL Server. The permissions problem isn’t technical: it’s a process problem.

The Best Bit About SQL Saturdays: Nearly Everyone Interacts with Other People

By Kendra Little on May 21, 2019

Category: tech-community

Tags: sql-saturday , community , conferences , networking

Today I was looped in on an email thread about the pros and cons of attending a specific event. One person on the thread asked if any of us had attended the event in the past, and whether or not event attendees were engaged with presenters and vendor representatives.

My immediate thought was: of course the attendees were engaged, because the event is a SQL Saturday. I’ve never been to a SQL Saturday where the attendees weren’t engaged.

But, I realized that it’s a fair question.