Kris Davidson

Kris’ rules of IT

Wednesday, the 7th of September, 2011

This post was published 1 year 9 months 13 days ago and I may have changed my mind since then or the information could be out of date.

I really need to post more but I’m just too busy (and lazy), it’s a pity I couldn’t script it like everything else I do. Anyway I was going through some old files of mine and I found this set of rules I put together for some colleagues a while back:

1. No one reads anything.
2. They forget what they read.
3. They deny what they have read.
4. Users and clients will lie.
5. Fast, cheap, reliable. Pick two.
6. Always cover your ass, but come clean when it’s your fault
7. Always backup even when told not to.
8. If you don’t have a replacement it will break soon.
9. Generally no one understands what you’re talking about or doing.
10. Rebooting while not ideal will usually fix a problem.

No one reads anything, They forget what they read, They deny what they have read

All three of these are variations of the same principle, basically don’t make assumptions and expect people to have read anything. While it would be nice if they did review documentation, guides and announcements I’m not holding my breath.

Users and clients will lie

Some people will lie when you’re trying to troubleshoot, usually because they think they know what is wrong or because they’re feeling stupid or guilty and trying to cover themselves.

Fast, cheap, reliable. Pick two

Pretty self explanatory, something can be fast and cheap, fast and reliable or cheap and reliable, but not all three.

Always cover your ass, but come clean when it’s your fault

Don’t go overboard with this, I simply mean that you should get written confirmation (e-mail will do) whenever you’re asked to do something you think is illegal or whenever you want to do something that will potentially cause downtime. If you do happen to cause downtime then come clean immediately and explain what happened.

Always backup even when told not to

This is kind of like the covering your ass rule, but always backup and test those backups.

If you don’t have a replacement it will break soon

I don’t know why, call it unprecedented coincidence but every time I’ve ran out of replacements for something, even if it’s something that never needs replacing or was just replaced last week then I’ll need one.

Generally no one understands what you’re talking about or doing

This can be annoying but try to explain things in a simple and clear manner, using the terminology of the person you’re talking to while avoiding being patronising. As IT departments need to justify their existence sometimes it never hurts to keep time sheets or maintain a trouble/incident/help ticket system.

Rebooting while not ideal will usually fix a problem

We’re all aware of the ‘Have you tried turning it off and on again?’ stuff, it usually works but a lot of the time it just fixes the symptoms instead of the underlying problem and it’s good to keep that in mind.