Chapter 9. Documentation

In system administration terms, documentation means keeping records of where things are, explaining how to do things, and making useful information available to customers. In general, SAs dislike writing documentation: There’s hardly enough time to do the work; why write documentation, too? The reason is that documentation helps in many ways, and a lack of documentation hurts SAs’ ability to do a good job.

It can be difficult to decide what to document. We recommend being selfish: Use documentation as a tool to make your work easier. Is the helpdesk flooded with the same few questions over and over? Provide documentation so that customers can help themselves. Are there tasks that you dislike doing? Document them so it is easier to delegate them or to have a junior SA take them over. Do you find it difficult to relax while on vacation? Do you skip vacations altogether? Document the processes that only you can do. Do you spend days fixing mistakes that could have been prevented? Maintain checklists and hint sheets to improve repeatability.