Documentation Matters

IT management requires one laborious task at its heart for the sake of organization and consistency: documentation. Creating documentation is tedious but not altogether horrible. It is the maintenance of those documents to reflect current conditions that requires monk-like discipline. Too often, once the document is drafted it lies buried on a server, growing outdated month after month until it is useless and only the template is worthy of salvage. Then the "next guy" has to start from scratch.

The dereliction of this duty comes easier the fewer people there are in a department. One-person IT department personnel are notorious for keeping everything in their head. When sharing isn't a requirement, the importance of documentation falls to the side. For non-profits with small IT departments, this appears to be a routine problem. For those dependent on consultants, often non-technical administrators don't request documents, or if they do, the material isn't stored well enough for future reference. Often I have asked for a specific piece of historical information and been handed an unwieldy folder with "everything about the network."

Document every month like it is your last month at the job. This is especially so for inventory and "Network Binders." Documentation should be limited to as few pieces of material as possible. The tome that is my Network Binder is really an anthology, but it is physically one document and digitally one folder on the server. When edits are made, diligently swap out the loose-leaf pages of the physical volume with the updated ones. And do keep as few copies of the physical and digital versions as possible - for consistency and security.

Non-technical administrators should always ask for documentation after any major work or regular maintenance has been conducted. Material on work performed should be kept separate from invoices and manuals. Additionally, keep the work documentation in chronological order. Being able to quickly review the work history of a network will reduce the learning curve for any future network admin.

Managing such a disciplined approached to documentation isn't easy, especially if you're a one-person operation. Certainly I'm guilty of ignoring my own guidelines. I consider this an ideal to strive for until reality interferes. Everyone needs dreams.