Tolerance above all else

For my bretheren, you already know the following. For those who we report to (and pay us - we have the utmost respect for you, really), please take note:

* All processes fail

* Something is always missed

* Failures happen at the worst possible time

The corollary of this is simple, obvious and an instructive bastardisation of an oft quoted phrase:

One must plan to fail

Ironically it is the best admins, developers and DBAs that tend to understand and work with this particular factoid. The ones who have gotten well past the stage of "my work is perfect" and "not my problem". 

There are developers, admins and DBAs much more experienced and older than myself who fail to embrace this simple idea. We have a long, long way to go.