A presentation from LOPSA-East '14. My top time management tips for system administrations, devops and developers.

1. Top 5
www.EverythingSysAdmin.com
Tips
Tom’s

2. Stress
2
Fire-Fighting
Mode
People
Interrupt Us
Fall Behind on
Projects
Back Log
Increases

3. Better would be…
Schedule: I control my daily schedule.
Priorities: I choose what I work on next.
Hours: I limit myself to 40-hour weeks.
3

4. #1 Create a Mutual Interruption Shield!
#2 Turn Chaos Into Routines!
#3 Record All Requests!
#4 Keep 365 Todo-Lists Each Year!
#5 Document Processes You Hate
Top 5

5. Create a
Mutual
Interruption
Shield 1

6. 6
Mutual Interruption Shield
Interruptions are the natural enemy of progress

7. 7
Mutual Interruption Shield
Take turns “fielding interruptions” with a co-
worker to permit uninterrupted project time
You field interrupts in the AM, they do it for
you in the PM.

8. Turn
Chaos Into
Routines 2

9. Get into that old, boring
routine!

10. Meeting with my boss

11. Opportunities
Repeated events that aren’t scheduled
When procrastinating takes longer than the task
itself
Things you forget often
Maintenance tasks: IT is like gardening
11

12. Record All
Requests
3

13. Reserve brain for task at hand
Brain not good for long-term storage
!
Immediate & personal things: SmartPhone
Customer requests: Helpdesk automation
Software projects: Bug tracking systems
!
www.bestpractical.com's RequestTracker (RT)
Don’t rely on your brain
13

14. !
Maintain todo-list in your SmartPhone App
Todo-Cloud.com, RememberTheMilk, Things, OmniFocus
Always:
Every day
When stopped in the hallway
When being interrupted
Avoid the
“Oh, I’ll remember that!”
Trap
14

15. Keep 365
Todo-Lists
Each Year
4

16. Some todo-list systems
work better than others

17. Memorize Everything!
-- vs --!
Zillions of Scattered Notes!
-- vs --!
The Never-Ending List of
Dooooooom
17

18. 18
Why do “todo lists” fail?
✤ We rely on “known-faulty” hardware!
✤ (Our brain forgets)!
✤ We don’t keep them all in one place!
✤ Many scattered pieces of paper!
✤ We keep many lists!
✤ Half are out of date!
✤ We keep one master list!
✤ Too big, too scary!
✤ The Never-Ending Todo List Of Dooooooom!

19. “The Cycle”
✤ 365 “todo lists” per year!
✤ Doesn’t rely on our brain!
✤ One place to keep everything!
✤ Prevents “list of dooooom”-like problems!
✤ Keep it as simple as possible!!
✤ Even a TextEdit user can do it!
19

20. Monday, April 14:
✤ Task A
✤ Task B
✤ Task C
✤ Task D
✤ Task E
20
---------
---------
---------
DONE
DONE
DONE

21. Move to tomorrow
Monday, April 14:
✤ Task A
✤ Task B
✤ Task C
Tuesday, April 15:
✤ Task D
✤ Task E
21
---------
---------
---------
DONE
DONE
DONE

22. New item? Add to the list!
Monday, April 14:
✤ Task A
✤ Task B
✤ Task C
Tuesday, April 15:
✤ Task D
✤ Task E
22
---------
---------
---------
DONE
DONE
DONE
✤ Task F

23. ...or tomorrow’s list!
Monday, April 14:
✤ Task A
✤ Task B
✤ Task C
Tuesday, April 15:
✤ Task D
✤ Task E
23
---------
---------
---------
DONE
DONE
DONE
Wednesday, April 16:
✤ Task F

24. ...or tomorrow’s list!
Monday, April 14:
✤ Task A
✤ Task B
✤ Task C
Tuesday, April 15:
✤ Task D
✤ Task E
24
---------
---------
---------
DONE
DONE
DONE
Thursday, April 17:
✤ Task F

25. The 4pm check
✤ Pause to consider the remaining items!
✤ Items due today:!
✤ Option 1: Call requester, negotiate extension!
✤ Option 2: Pawn off task to co-worker!
✤ Option 3: Work late!
✤ Other items... move to tomorrow!
25

26. Control your time!
1. Schedule your work
2. Prioritize what you do
3. Control the hours you work
!
26

27. Leave work with a smile

28. Document
Procedures
You Hate
5

29. Check-list procedures:
“New User Process”
“Account Termination”
“Setup New Workstation”
Error-prone, infrequent procedures
“How to replace a bad hard disk on a RAID system”
Procedures you dislike doing
Result: Fewer errors. Do tasks “on automatic”
What’s on my wiki?
29

30. The Wiki becomes:
A list of things you can delegate to Junior SAs
The basis of a job description for next new-hire
Tasks/responsibilities
Required skill-set.
If your boss ever hints at having permission to hire a new
person, you have a pre-written list of what they would do.
How does this save time?
30

31. Top 5 Time
Management Tips
#6 www.EverythingSysAdmin.com!
www.TomOnTime.com
#1 Create a Mutual Interruption Shield!
#2 Turn Chaos Into Routines!
#3 Record All Requests!
#4 Keep 365 Todo-Lists Each Year!
#5 Document Processes You Hate

32. Everything we do:
Simple things, done once
Hard things, done once
!
Simple things, done often
Hard things, done often
32

33. Rare
Often
Easy Hard
Manual Document
Automate Acquire
HireHire