Time Management for System Administrators

Inhaltsverzeichnis
Foreword
Preface
1. Time Management Principles
What's So Difficult About Time Management?
The Principles of Time Management for SAs
It Won't Be Easy
Summary
2. Focus Versus Interruptions
The Focused Brain
An Environment to Encourage Focus
Interruptions
Directing Interruptions Away from You
You Can Say "Go Away" Without Being a Jerk
Summary
3. Routines
Sample Routines
How to Develop Your Own Routines
Deleting Old Routines
Summary
4. The Cycle System
Don't Trust Your Brain
Why Other Systems Fail
Systems That Succeed
The Cycle
Summary
5. The Cycle System: To Do Lists and Schedules
A Sample Day
Other Tips
Setting Up a PAA for Use with The Cycle
Setting Up a PDA for Use with The Cycle
Summary
6. The Cycle System: Calendar Management
How to Use Your Calendar
One Calendar for Business and Social Life
Repeating Tasks
Know Your Personal Rhythms
Know Your Company's Rhythms
Summary
7. The Cycle System: Life Goals
The Secret Trick
Setting Goals
Planning Your Next Steps
Schedule the Steps
Revisit Your Goals Regularly
Summary
8. Prioritization
Prioritizing Your To Do Lists
Project Priorities
Requests from Your Boss
Summary
9. Stress Management
Overload and Conflicting Directions
Vacation Time
Yoga, Meditation, and Massage
Summary
10. Email Management
Managing Your Email
Jump Starting the Process
Summary
11. Eliminating Time Wasters
What Is a Time Waster?
Avoiding the Tempting Time Wasters
Common Time Wasters
Wasteful Meetings
Strategic Versus Tactical
Summary
12. Documentation
Document What Matters to You
Wiki Technology
Summary
13. Automation
What to Automate?
How to Automate
Simple Things Done Often
Hard Things Done Once
Letting Others Do Privileged Operations
Summary
Epilogue
Index
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Time is a precious commodity, especially if you're a system administrator. No other job pulls people in so many directions at once. Users interrupt you constantly with requests, preventing you from getting anything done. Your managers want you to get long-term projects done but flood you with requests for quick-fixes that prevent you from ever getting to those long-term projects. But the pressure is on you to produce and it only increases with time. What do you do?

The answer is time management. And not just any time management theory--you want Time Management for System Administrators, to be exact. With keen insights into the challenges you face as a sys admin, bestselling author Thomas Limoncelli has put together a collection of tips and techniques that will help you cultivate the time management skills you need to flourish as a system administrator.

Time Management for System Administrators understands that an Sys Admin often has competing goals: the concurrent responsibilities of working on large projects and taking care of a user's needs. That's why it focuses on strategies that help you work through daily tasks, yet still allow you to handle critical situations that inevitably arise.

Among other skills, you'll learn how to:

Manage interruptions Eliminate timewasters Keep an effective calendar Develop routines for things that occur regularly Use your brain only for what you're currently working on Prioritize based on customer expectations Document and automate processes for faster execution

What's more, the book doesn't confine itself to just the work environment, either. It also offers tips on how to apply these time management tools to your social life. It's the first step to a more productive, happier you.
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"I liked this book, easy to read and contains good advice. I have fallen asleep reading other time management material, this one kept me awake." - Alain Williams, news@UK, June 2006
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Thomas A. Limoncelli is the author of O'Reilly's Time Management for System Administration. He is an internationally known author and speaker on many topics, including system administration, networking, security, and grassroots political organizing. A system administrator since 1988, he now speaks at conferences around the world on topics ranging from firewall security to time management. He has worked for Cibernet, Dean For America, Lumeta, Bell Labs/Lucent, AT&T, and Mentor Graphics. He and Christine Hogan co-authored The Practice of System and Network Administration (Addison Wesley). He holds a B.A. in Computer Science from Drew University in Madison, New Jersey, USA. He publishes a blog on EverythingSysadmin.com.
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