grandmother was still alive, I would visit her in Florida periodically. Every time I would go, she and all of her friends would bring me their digital watches to set. And you know what? I loved it. Still, one's life doesn't always run as planned when pleas for help can come at any time. I bet Superman had time management issues as well.
Closely related to system administrators' desire to help when they can is their attraction to crisis response and saving the day. Most sysadmins can't repel down the side of a building ('hut..hut..hut..') but you know they'd do it if they could. The one-person-cavalry-to-the-rescue fetish is not a sustainable rationale for staying in the profession, but it sure does a good job of initially drawing people into the field.
The last facet of the sysadmin persona I want to address is also endearing, but it tends to exasperate the sysadmin's non-sysadmin significant other(s) and flush all attempts at time management down the toilet. By and large, sysadmins find what they do to be fun. All of this tinkering, integrating, installing, building, reinstalling, puttering, etc., is fun. So fun, in fact, that they work all day and then go home and do it some more.
I once shared a bus ride with a professional chef who told me she hated to cook on her days off. 'Postmen don't like to take long walks when they come home from work' is how she put it. Most of the sysadmins I know have never heard of this idea. You'll find them (and me, as my spouse would be quick to point out) curled up at home in front of a laptop 'mucking about' virtually all the time. The notion of 'play' and 'work' are best described as a quantum superposition blur for a sysadmin. This is great because it means we enjoy what we do, but it's horrible because we can't (or won't) stop doing it. It is hard to manage your time if it is so nebulous.
So all is lost, right? Luckily, no. Time management for sysadmins would be futile if sysadmins didn't have two things on their side:
Themselves
Tom Limoncelli
As I said before, sysadmins love to tinker, organize, integrate and optimize. I have a fond memory of watching a close sysadmin friend of mine in the checkout line of a supermarket bagging his groceries. Every item was carefully considered and then placed in a bag right in the optimal spot like one big game of Tetris. If we could only turn these skills on ourselves and use them to help with the gnarly time management difficulties we face....
Well, we can. And that's where Tom comes in. He's figured out how to do just that. Tom's been working on the problems associated with time management and staying sane in this profession for years. Ever since I met him at my first LISA conference around 10 years ago, I've had the privilege of watching him grapple with this subject in several different contexts—from splitting AT&T Bell Lab's network in half to keeping a political candidate's technical infrastructure going. In each situation, he's been able to bring his years of sysadmin experience, his keen understanding of people, and a sharp sense of humor to the problem.
Now, sit back, keep your hands in the car and the safety bar down, and enjoy, as Tom helps you bring time management and sanity to your world as well.
—David N. Blank-Edelman
Preface
'
Uh-huh.
'You mean, like, how to use PDAs, vCal, calendar servers, and stuff?'
No, not at all. System administrators should be able to figure those things out without needing a book.
'So why shouldn't we just buy one of the other 10 zillion time management books out on the market?'
Because they suck. Well, they don't
(Shoos cat out of the room.) 'I'm not letting you near my cat anymore.'
Listen, what I'm trying to say is that system administration is not a job. It's a lifestyle. We need time management books that speak to our lifestyle, in our own words, and solve our problems.
