Now Reading – December 13

Now Reading: Remember Here When You Are There by Larry Marder
Just Finished: Time Management for System Administrators by Thomas A. Limoncelli.

Time Management For System Administrators (TMFSA) is a very good book for System Administrators who want to improve their time management skills (read: stop working late.) It’s probably not a good book for Your Computer Guy who spends most of his time goofing off. Either YCG already has excellent time management skills, in which case this book is unnecessary, or perhaps YCG doesn’t have enough to do, in which case this book is also not necessary.

I found this book interesting and mildly useful. Interesting, because the author is a long-time IT veteran with many important suggestions. Mildly useful, because I already practice some of his suggestions. I organize my work environment to create focus. I don’t use chat, etc., while working. I perform “Delegate, Record, Do” when asked to execute a task and when going through e-mail. (Though “delegate” has become difficult lately.) The author has a system called “The Cycle” which is a formalized method of scheduling and prioritizing that ensures the most important things get done first. I already had my own informal system called “Triage.” Of course I now see that I was Doing It Wrong, since I was working off of a Never Ending To-Do List Of Doom.

Still, I think this book will have a place on my shelf for a long time, because as I find myself with more and more to do, time becomes more and more precious, and managing it becomes more and more important.