On Sun, 2003-03-23 at 10:38, ktb wrote: > I've been searching around the web for some documentation on how to deal > with users from the perspective of a systems administrator. I'm finding > a lot on account management and user policies but not much by way of > dealing with people. I'm interested in educating myself about the different > approaches sys admins take and the success or failure of these approaches. > > As you can guess I've recently inherited a network. I'm having no > problems with the technical side of administering the network but am > finding myself increasingly taking more of a hard-line with regards to > users and I would like to decide where I want to draw the lines. > Thanks, > kent From having worked as a combination MIS/Network Admin/Tech Support/Electrician all in one at the same time, I can give you my experiences. I don't claim these to be the "right" way but they worked well for me: 1) Rules. Make sure you have very simple, very precise, and very well enforced rules. There should be no more than a dozen primary points (backed up with "sub-rules" of course) because otherwise people won't remember them. And you have to stick to them. If there's a rule that there are to be no emails sent between 3:13 and 3:16 on every third Tuesday of months beginning with the letter J, then you'd better make sure that if someone DOES send an email during that time you mention it to them. Don't threaten them with holy retribution, just tell them that they shouldn't be doing that and explain why. If you can't explain why, that rule needs to go. 2) Remember that you're dealing with people who don't care WHAT works or HOW it works, as long as IT WORKS. You can give them a magic email sending stick and tell them that, to send email, they need to dance with the stick in a circle about their computer 7 times, and as long as it works and it keeps on working, they'll be perfectly happy to do it. (Ever notice that most users don't even think twice about jumping through an upgrade hoop that Microsoft is holding for them? Same concept. :) 3) Try to remember at all times that you're dealing with business people. You have to try and be a people-person as much as possible. What this means is that, among other things, "Because I said so" is not a valid response to user questions of why they have to do something a certain way. (You laugh now, but I've heard this EXACT phrase entirely too many times at different places.) Regardless of what silly things users do, like sticking suckers and toothpicks into their floppy drives (again, true story), they're still people. People who, whether you'd like to believe it or not, are just as capable as you at doing whatever it is they do. As hard as that is to realize sometimes, it helps immensely. It's not only for user relations that it's important, it also goes a long way toward keeping your blood pressure at a manageable level. :) That's the three main things. Some of these are just good people advice, and some are good "technical" advice, but they've worked for me. Best of luck... you'll need it. :) -- Alex Malinovich Support Free Software, delete your Windows partition TODAY! Encrypted mail preferred. You can get my public key from any of the pgp.net keyservers. Key ID: A6D24837
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