Derek's Musings » system administration http://www.incandetech.com/derek I'm right. You're wrong. Don't take it personally. It's just how things are. Wed, 28 Jul 2010 02:23:57 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 How to be kind to your fellow system administrators http://www.incandetech.com/derek/2009/05/28/how-to-be-kind-to-your-fellow-system-administrators/ http://www.incandetech.com/derek/2009/05/28/how-to-be-kind-to-your-fellow-system-administrators/#comments Thu, 28 May 2009 20:49:00 +0000 Derek http://www.incandetech.com/derek/?p=49
  • Document procedures that are specific to the line-of-business applications in use.
  • Do not document (but do reference) procedures that are outlined elsewhere (MSDN, publisher’s Web site, etc.).
  • Log out of a server when you’re not going to be using it for a while. Do not leave important configuration steps half done.
  • Automate processes that are redundant or lengthy to perform by hand. There’s nothing better than getting Windows installed without having to answer “Typical TCP/IP settings” and without the need to install update KBabcxyz.
  • Ask questions to clarify a particular problem/oddity. e.g. Why is there only one virtual machine running on this server?
  • Don’t assume that something is the way it is (read: not optimal) just because whoever did it is a moron. Many times cost dictates what can be done and more importantly what can’t be done.
    Note: Sometimes you are working with morons.
  • Make yourself available during the work day and at a reasonable level otherwise. E-mail. Cell. Text. There’s no reason why a problem at work should be held up for hours/days because you were too inconsiderate or lazy to give a 30-second answer to a non-trivial question.
  • Recognize when delegating a task to a co-worker is better than doing it yourself. If your co-worker is more efficient, experienced or excited to do a task give it to them. You are not always God’s gift to IT.
  • Do not rush. Do not jump to make changes. No matter how urgent something is there’s a good chance you’ll make mistakes that your co-workers (or you) might have to clean up if you did things too fast, thereby cutting into the variable you were trying to minimize in the first place: time.
  • Learn something new anytime you can and then teach it. Don’t become the bottleneck for information in your organization. It just makes you the forever go-to guy for everything.
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