Time Management for System Administrators

Use your brain for what you are working on right now, and use external storage for everything else.

Develop routines for things that happen periodically.

Pre-compute decisions by developing habits and mantras.

Maintain focus during project time.

Improve your social life by applying these tools outside of work, too.

'Are you going to work that into some cute acronym?'

I promise I won't. What's important to know for now is that I have constructed each chapter to group together particular problem areas for system administrators. They build on each other.

Preface

An introduction to the book and the topics covered in it. You're reading this right now.Chapter 1, Time Management Principles

What makes us so special? It's mostly the volume of interruptions we get and the huge number of simultaneous projects we're asked to do. But there's more to it than that. This chapter introduces the principles that will be used throughout the rest of the book.Chapter 2, Focus Versus Interruptions

This chapter teaches you how to deal with an interrupting customer without sounding like a jerk. You won't be able to accomplish much without managing your interruptions.Chapter 3, Routines

This chapter shows you how to turn chaos into routine. Our jobs are full of chaos—anything we can turn into a routine means a little less chaos and a lot less stress. When we develop routines for our tasks, they become habits and we're less likely to forget them.Chapter 4, The Cycle System

This chapter introduces you to my 'Cycle System,' which is a way to manage your to do list. It teaches you how to juggle many demands without dropping anything. Even if you have 100 hours of tasks on your plate, you can manage them all and still work only 8 hours a day.Chapter 5, The Cycle System: To Do Lists and Schedules

This chapter focuses upon the actual day-to-day work of putting The Cycle System into practice, creating your schedule and to do list. It also gives you tips and strategies for dealing with too much work.Chapter 6, The Cycle System: Calendar Management

SAs have lots of meetings and appointments. If we can manage them better, not only do we no longer miss appointments, but we can schedule more fun into our social lives. In this chapter, I extend The Cycle System to include our calendar.Chapter 7, The Cycle System: Life Goals

This chapter teaches you how to identify long-term goals, both personal and professional, and how to make sure you achieve them. Where do you want to be in 10 years? You're more likely to get there if you do a little bit of planning now.Chapter 8, Prioritization

A good juggler can juggle many objects but has to stop the whole juggle when a single mistake is made. A great juggler knows how to extend a juggle by dropping a ball or two so the others can stay in play. In this chapter, I discuss a few different ways to prioritize so that The Cycle System works even better.Chapter 9, Stress Management

A short chapter about how I learned to manage stress.Chapter 10, Email Management

We all get too much email. Here are a few realistic tips for getting control over the flood of email you receive.Chapter 11, Eliminating Time Wasters

One way to have more time is to eliminate time wasters. In this chapter, I talk about how to identify and eliminate them.Chapter 12, Documentation

This chapter explores ways to document without pain. When we document, we help our time management two ways. First, we spend less time trying to remember how to do something because we can refer to our notes. Second, it makes it easier to have someone else take over the task, completely removing it from our to do list. The problem is finding a realistic way to get in the habit of documenting. The solution is called a Wiki.Chapter 13, Automation

What's better than having a computer do your job for you? There are many novel and easy ways to start automating tasks today, even if you don't know a lot about programming. This chapter