Taming Information Technology

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS PROLOGUE: WHY WE WROTE THIS BOOK Chapter 1: MOTIVATIONS AND METHODS Trends Business Labor Automation Our studies Questions Methods Descriptions Analysis Roadmap Summary Chapter 2: PEOPLE AND COLLABORATION The Story of George, Web Administrator Complex Technical Environment Mysterious Errors Remote Troubleshooting Obstacles to Collaboration Debugging George System Administration as Collaboration Chapter 3: TECHNOLOGIES AND COMPLEXITY The Story of Dot, Web Administrator Coordinating Information Grounding System State Manual Interactions Solving the Puzzle of Complexity The Story of the Crit Sit Transient Problem Summarizing System State Making Sense of Chaos Complex Interactions Grounding in a Complex Environment Chapter 4: PRACTICES AND INNOVATION The Story of Christine and Mike, Database Administrators Copy, Test, Document, Revise Formal and Informal Organizational Support Rehearsing Procedures Organizational Awareness Multiple Checks for Risky Operations Managing Risk The Story of Patrick, Capacity Planner Allocation by the Book Allocation by Experience By the Book versus by Experience Managing Innovation Reduces Risk Chapter 5: TOOLS AND AUTOMATION The Story of Shawn, OS Administrator Balancing Customization and Automation Homemade Tools Coordinating with the Customer Customization, Automation, Coordination The Story of Diana and Mark, Storage Administrators Automate as Much as Possible Building One of a Kind Tools The Story of Jimmy, Database Administrator Creating System Administration Tools Chapter 6: ORGANIZATIONS AND INFORMATION The Story of Henry and Ryan, Storage Administrators Optimizing within an Organization Reducing Friction Between Organizations Grounding Past and Future Synchronizing Work Across the Organization Orchestrating Information Flow The Story of Amy, Transition Manager Information Hub Activity Hub Orchestrating Organizations Orchestrating the Flow of Information and Work Chapter 7: COMMUNITIES AND TRUST The Story of Joe and Aaron, Security Administrators Human Judgment Required Working with the Local Community A Global Response to a Global Attack Sharing Tools Locally and Globally Using and Developing Community Tools System Administration across Communities Chapter 8: FINDINGS AND LESSONS System Administrators Depend on Collaboration System Administrators Create and Adapt Tools and Practices Organizations Orchestrate Information Flow and Work System Administrators Depend on their Communities Automation Cannot Replace System Administrators Conclusion EPILOGUE: WHERE ARE THEY NOW? George, Web Administrator Dot and Nora, Web Administrators Diana, Storage Administrator Ryan, Storage Architect Amy, Transition Manager Aaron and Joe, Security Administrators The Journey Continues REFERENCES Index