Month: October 2008

Oracle 9i client causes Java problems

For a well-established organisation like Oracle, I can’t believe that they actually let this issue past their QA. As of now, there are still quite a lot of companies worldwide that are using Oracle 9i as they may not have the impetus to upgrade to the latest Oracle database. So, it is not unexpected that the Oracle 9i client will be installed on present-day machines.

When the Oracle 9i client was installed on my notebook, I immediately experienced problems with my Java applications. At first I was wondering if Java was acting up and I restarted my notebook. When the problem persisted, I ran Java app from the system console and found an exception that a particular package could no longer be found! This was strange as I did not change my Java installation.

Turns out that the Oracle 9i client installed an older version of Java in order to operate properly. I do not fault Oracle for this. What I was incredulous about was that they changed the universal PATH settings used by all Windows applications and probably broke a vast majority of modern day Java applications! And we all thought an Oracle is supposed to be all-knowing… (hmm… or did it knowingly break my Java apps???)

Water Bottle Test

When I was in Primary 3, my mum had just bought me a new water bottle and I wanted to impress my friends on the (unproven) durability of my water bottle. So I got their attention and I dropped the water bottle to the ground.

Needless to say, it crashed to the floor and broke into pieces, releasing water on the classroom floor. The incident resulted in a destroyed water bottle but it also created a memory for AJ, who was seated beside me.

Action Time at 70%

In armed forces real-time operations where decision making can be a matter of life and death, the leaders often do not have the benefit of time to ponder over their decisions and analyse decisions fully before deciding on a course of action. Oftentimes, having 70% to 80% of information is enough to take action.

In certain situations, this can also be carried over to the working world. Too often, people are afraid to take action unless they have all available information. This may lead to “paralysis by analysis” as no one dares to take the next step.

If you ever find yourself in a position where you are “stuck” because you’re trying to gather ALL possible information, just take a step back and see if you can make do with 70% of the information and proceed with a suitable level of confidence. Remember, in this dynamic environment where business moves so fast, it is essential for decision making to be fast too.