I'm a junior sysadmin with a couple of years under my belt, and I've been struggling to keep my documentation in order. I need to cover several areas, including access to systems, details about our separate VCenter and ESXi hosts (like OS patches and versions), a large virtual inventory, as well as GPOs and Acronis plans for about 20 different domains.
I'm looking for advice from more experienced folks on how to effectively prepare and update documentation without getting sidetracked by urgent tasks. I often find that I start working on it but then get distracted by other priorities and end up neglecting it.
2 Answers
At our place, we tend to jot down about a third of what needs to be documented, and then ignore it until someone raises an issue. This often leads to documenting a bunch of unrelated steps instead of actually addressing the needs. It's not the best method, but it’s what we find ourselves doing! I wish we could find a better way to manage our documentation process.
One approach that works for me is setting aside a specific 'D day' for documentation every week or two. I think of documentation similar to policies that should be updated at least annually. However, with how quickly things change, it's often beneficial to update more frequently. If you collaborate with colleagues, you can establish a workflow with clear goals, like updating one or two docs each D day and having them peer-reviewed. It adds some accountability, and trust me, it really helps to stick to it! Also, using a solid documentation tool can speed things up and make it feel less tedious. Standardizing with templates can save time, too!
That sounds a bit chaotic! Have you thought about ways to improve your documentation strategy to avoid this?