System Admin Time Management: radical automation with routines

Why is routine a good thing? It gives us a way to think once and do many.

Routines, for example, can be

1. Gas up on Sunday
2. Always bring my organizer
3. Regularly meet with my boss
4. The check-in-with-staff walk-around
5. The check-in-with-customers walk-around
6. During outages, communicate to management
7. Use automatic checks while performing specific tasks
8. Always back up a file before you edit
9. Record “To Take” items for trips, (especially when you travel a lot),

Mantras, for example, can be

1. ==If it has to be done every day, do it early in the day. So it won’t let you stay up late.==
2. Sooner is better than later.
3. Trust the process.
4. When in doubt, throw it out. If I ever do need it, I can ask the source for a copy.
5. Write down every request.
6. If you are not sure if an email list is useful, it isn’t.

How to develop routines? Try to find …

1. Repeated events that aren’t scheduled.

2. Maintenance tasks.

3. Relationships and career networking. Relationships require maintenance and are also similar to gardening (they grow if you work diligently, starve if they are ignored, and die if they get too much attention). There are four types of people to maintain relationships

   1. Customers (or SPOC single point of contact for each customer group)
   2. Staff
   3. Peers
   4. Boss(es)

4. When procrastinating takes longer than action.

5. Things you forget often.

6. Inconsequential or low-priority tasks that can be skipped occasionally but shouldn’t be.

7. Developing new skills.

8. Keeping up-to-date by reading.