The trend toward IT outsourcing is increasing dramatically. According to a report by Foote Partners, as much as 45% of North American IT work will be outsourced by 2005. And there are good reasons behind this trend. Bruce Caldwell, principal Gartner analyst believes companies can generate 20-30% savings through outsourcing. This substantial savings potential isn't easily overlooked, yet it isn't number one reason companies are choosing to outsource right now. In a recent survey by The Outsourcing Institute, primary reason behind outsourcing is to improve company focus. Other motives include freeing up internal resources, accessing top-notch capabilities, and accelerating time to market. The survey also indicated that 55% of firms who outsource do so within IT—more than any other area.

As more companies begin outsourcing some or all of their IT function, it becomes difficult to ignore competitive pressure. With competitors achieving their IT needs at 20-30% less cost, and getting ahead in market because of increased focus within company, those who ignore outsourcing trend could potentially lose ground very quickly.

Although these habits are distressingly common among DBAs, they are curable with some shrewd management intervention. What follows is a list of seven habits we consider deadliest, along with some ideas on how to eliminate them.

Habit #1. THE LEAP OF FAITH: "We have faith in our backup."

Blind faith can be endearing, but not when it comes backing up a database. Backups should be trusted only as far as they have been tested and verified.

Cures: Have your DBAs verify that backup is succeeding regularly, preferably using a script that notifies them if there's an issue. Maintain a backup to your backup. DBAs should always use at least two backup methods. A common technique is to use those old-fashioned exports as a backup to online backups. Resource test recoveries as often as is practical. An early sign that your DBA team is either overworked or not prioritizing correctly is having a quarter go by without a test recovery. Test recoveries confirm that your backup strategy is on track, while allowing your team to practice recovery activities so they can handle them effectively when time comes.

Habit #2. GREAT EXPECTATIONS: "It will work way we expect it to. Let's go ahead."

Although not user friendly in traditional sense, Oracle is very power-user friendly— once you've been working with it for a while, you develop an instinct for way things "should" work. Although that instinct is often right, one of most dangerous habits any DBA can possess is an assumption that Oracle will "just work" way it should.

Cures: Inculcate a "practice, practice, practice" mentality throughout organization. DBAs need to rehearse activities in safe sandbox of a test environment that's designed to closely mimic behaviour of production system. The organization needs to allow time and money for them to do so. Pair inexperienced DBAs with senior ones whenever possible—or take them under your own wing. New DBAs tend to be fearless, but learning from someone else's experience can help instill some much needed paranoia. Review plans for everything. It's amazing how often DBAs say, "I've done that a hundred times, I don't need a plan." If they're heading into execution mode, they absolutely need a plan.

Habit #3. LAISSEZ-FAIRE ADMINISTRATION: "We don't need to monitor system. The users always let us know when something's wrong."

If you depend on users to inform DBA team that there's a problem, it may already be too late.

Cures: Install availability and performance monitoring systems so that issues are identified and resolved before they cause service-affecting failures. Avoid post-release software issues by working with developers and testers to ensure that all production-ready software is stable and high-performance.

Habit #4. THE MEMORY TEST: "We'll remember how this happened, and what we did to get things going again."

It may seem impossible that a DBA team would forget a massive procedure that took them weeks to get right, and yet it happens all time. In order to prevent recurring mistakes and take advantage of gained experience, documentation is essential.