[AccessD] On DB Bloat, Bad DB Design, and various

Thanks, Susan- you hit the nail on the head and have prompted me to put down
some thoughts that have been bothering me for awhile. Hide the women and
children, here goes :-)

<rant mode on>
I have to start by saying upfront my career evolution has been from the
finance/accounting user-to power user-to developer lineage and NOT the IT
side of the world. Frankly, I developed programming skills in self defense
to have control over my own destiny because the IT side of the business
couldn't/wouldn't keep up (even when it reported to me). My understanding of
Access has been need-based and evolved slowly over time, i.e. I discovered
Access and relational databases when Excel "database" tables could no longer
satisfy my needs. For several years Access wizards and macros were my "state
of the art" and I was happy as a clam. My little databases received "raves"
and made me the office guru to the point I decided to take a college course
in Access. It was at that point I realized I really didn't understand
relational databases and that in fact my "wonderful" databases were all
wrong except for the fact they produced useful results. While I have since
gone on to develop my skills much further (yes, Virginia, I eventually
discovered VBA!) the point is I believe my evolution is more the rule than
the exception. I am willing to wager that in terms of sheer numbers the vast
majority of useful, results producing Access databases have been created by
the user/power user cadre rather than developers. I know of a major
insurance company whose IT group recently did a nose count of personal
Access apps that were floating around the company. The numbers absolutely
shocked them. Here at my company we have several people who know a lot about
the business but only a little about Access. Nevertheless they are using the
tool to produce very useful results. This is the true "silent majority" of
Access users who are attempting to solve problems on a day to day basis.
This should not surprise anyone because after all the product was designed
as a personal app. It is a tribute to the strength of the product and the
creativity of developers such as those on this list that Access has evolved
far beyond a simple personal tool. The fact remains, however, personal
databases account for the vast majority of its use. 

With this as background I am very disturbed by Microsoft's apparent intent
to remove Access from the mainstream of evolving apps.  I also was
disappointed in Getz's column a few months ago summarizing a wish list for
the next Access version. It seems to me Access must stay true to its roots
and those roots are as a personal app. What does this mean at the practical
level? The self taught user runs into trouble not with the small apps that,
however constructed, they can still get their arms around and validate the
results. Its when these apps morph into mission critical monsters that have
grown in size and complexity to the point where the non IT professional can
no longer ensure valid results that things usually hit the fan. Typically
these apps spin off into space before developers are called in for pooper
scooper patrol. So what is the solution? It would be tremendous if Access
could be given additional tools/wizards/internal training screens/magic to
ease the transition in the database life cycle from user app to developer
maintainable code.  While it might be fashionable to always say we should
"colbyize" the users, on their side of the fence they have even harsher
terms of endearment for the IT crowd. It is  certainly not realistic to say
users should keep hands off and leave all the development to the pros. I
believe the more understanding users gain about relational databases by
hands on efforts the better off we all are. Having users in effect
"prototype" apps by taking a shot at building it also can save time compared
with a blank sheet of paper where the developer is forced to play 20
questions trying to divine what users "really" want. If tools could somehow
be developed to smooth the user-to-developer transition we would all be
winners IMNSHO.  So I throw it out to the group, what sort of improvements
could be made to Access to lower the user learning curve and smooth the
handoff of projects from user to developer?

<rant mode off>
That's my story and I'm sticking to it
Jim Hale

-----Original Message-----
From: Susan Harkins [mailto:ssharkins at bellsouth.net]
Sent: Friday, May 21, 2004 8:55 AM
To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving'
Subject: RE: [AccessD] On DB Bloat, Bad DB Design, and various


Arthur -- do you know who wrote the original app? Was it someone in-house
that had to put together something because s/he was told to? Access is as
much a user database as a development tool -- that's what makes it so
alluring to such a wide audience. If the boss tells you the department needs
such and such, and you're not a database developer, know onlyh a little
about Access, you might come up with crap from a developmental perspective
-- but if the crap works... Of course, eventually, they probably are going
to have to call in someone that really understands the issues, but for
awhile -- it works. That's not a bad thing -- and I don't know that that's
even the situation in your case Arthur -- but I think it happens a lot. 

And a lot of so called developers produce crap -- especially the geniuses in
other areas that think Access is a toy and that anyone can "do it." Those
folks irritate me because invariably their stuff is inefficient and
laborious -- but it "looks" difficult and that's what people expect to see,
so they must know what they're doing, right? :) 

My personal favorite is developers that claim it can't be done without code.
Yeah... Right... 

But, the crap issue -- it's why I don't do it -- I'd produce more crap than
good stuff in today's environment. I can sling out little stuff with the
best of you, but once you get into the multi-user issues, I'd rather visit a
dentist. 

Susan H. 

I don't think certs are the answer either Arthur--it is too easy to get a
certification, and they push you through to fast. You don't even have to
produce anything original to get a cert--just do their stupid exercises in
the back of the chapters. And, I have seen certified people, both
programmers and network admins, do stupid stuff.


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