I was doing something, is it right to keep doing it?
I guess it comes down to faith in myself. Since I created the routine, I know I have already settled any ethical dilemmas. And I'm talking about changing backup tapes and filling gas tanks, not life-or-death decisions.
I find that routines delete themselves by becoming obsolete. When I got a promotion and someone else took responsibility for changing the backup tapes, the routine I had developed expired on its own.
Routines also modify themselves and evolve. This isn't a Perl script that, if left unmodified, will fail after the files it affects have been migrated to a new server. This is you. You're human. You see things as they happen and adjust.
Of course, I try to be flexible. When someone challenges my adherence to a particular routine, I keep an open mind and listen to his concerns. Sometimes he is even right.
Summary
A good routine saves you work and reduces the amount of time you spend making decisions.
Routines give you a way to 'think once, do many.'
Develop the routine of always recording your appointments and to do items in your organizer and always having your organizer with you.
The more routines we develop, the less brainpower we have to put into small matters, and the more brain power we have to focus on the fun and creative parts of being a system administrator. Throughout your day, look for opportunities to create your own routines. Red flags for such opportunities include:
Repeated events that aren't scheduled
Maintenance tasks
Relationships and career networking
When procrastinating takes longer than the task
Things you forget often
Inconsequential or low-priority tasks that can be skipped occasionally but shouldn't be
Developing new skills
Keeping up-to-date
Schedule Reading Time
Never get caught up reading all those computer-industry magazines that come to your mailbox? Schedule a one-hour reading time each week. Find a place to hide, and read as much as you can. Throw out what you weren't able to read, which keeps your reading material fresh.
Chapter 4. The Cycle System
In 1997, I received an award for my political activism. In addition to my full-time system administration job and very active social life, I spent my spare time involved in four nonprofits, one of which I had been president of, another that I had founded. Someone asked me how I kept it all coordinated. I smiled and thanked them for the compliment, and politely held back from saying, 'I'm a system administrator! I manage chaos for a living!'
The truth is that I had figured out how to keep track of the flood of requests and to do items that came my way without losing any of them. It's easy to look like you know what you're doing when you have good follow-through .
Your customers value your ability to follow through more than they value any other skill you have. Nothing ruins your reputation like agreeing to do something and forgetting to do it. The secret to perfect follow-through is to record all requests and track each request until completion. My key to perfect follow-though is a system I call
The Cycle uses three tools: a combined to do list and today's schedule, a calendar, and a list of long-term life goals. Store all these tools in one place. The process is the same whether you use a PDA or an old-fashioned planner or organizer (PAA) that can be found in a stationery store.
