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How Would You Document Your Job?
Q3vi1 asks: "As an support technician, there are several things I've learned about the environment I work in that would be difficult to find out without hours of research. Now I'm going to be moving and that means getting a new job. Before I do, I'd like to leave behind some of this information for the person who will replace me. How does one document all the details in an efficient manner for the next tech?"
envelopes.
You are being MICROattacked, from various angles, in a SOFT manner.
Good for you! You've got yourself a wonderful job as my replacement. As a congratulations gift I would like to leave you with the knowledge I've gleaned from my time here.
Imagine the best possible place you could work. Imagine people working together, sharing information in a timely manner, and open to constructive criticism. People working together to not only make a profit, but make a humane profit. People who care about the customer, each other, and the world in general. People who feel that the workload should be spread over all nations so that everyone can have a job, an income, and a healthy life.
Now imagine the reverse. Welcome to the team, sucka'!
The best thing for you to do is set up a Wiki. It will be very easy for you to write down your stuff. Whether in big chunks or in little "Oh, I should write down this little thing before I forget". And it will be easy for your successors to continue keeping the docs up-to-date.
A Multiplayer Strategy Game for Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux
I've prepared a 'quirks' document of everything (IT) unique to the company that you couldn't get from a reference book. If someone new needs anything more, they shouldn't have been hired.
Having had this responsibility before, let me tell ya, it's easy.
Make a document with headings about each part of the company you know about (Departments, Management, Placing 1-900 Calls Unnoticed, etc.) and then, very simply, just talk about it. Such as:
Departments
Accounting tends to only make itself known when you need something critical and then they cry wolf. When this happens contact their manager, Foo B. Baz, and let him know what's happening. He'll kick someone's ass and get the PO through.
Sales lies. Repeatedly. If one of them calls you with the customer already on the line (and they will) and says something to the order of "we do X, right? Of course we do!" talk over him and explain why he's an idiot. With the customer there. It will be the last time that particular person calls you like that. Sales management will harass you, but just refer him to your manager and move on.
And so on, and so forth. Just a simple heading/topic document. Print it up and leave it in a drawer somewhere the next sucker will see it.
But he's leaving now. Any "up-to-date" is already gone.
The best way to have valuable knowledge is to gather it continuously and write it down in a consistent format. This way you both have documentation for your successor when you leave with advanced notice, and when you leave due to the 26 Speed Bus to Downtown doesn't notice you crossing the intersection. Not to rag on the good intentions of the original poster of this article, but isn't this a little late to start documenting?
Perhaps leaving a consistent documentation system to start from might be one of the most valuable assets he can leave the company -- for the gal after the guy after him.
You like splinters in your crotch? -Jon Caldara
or Hindi...
Wow, you are the first person to perfectly articulate that not only is the current situation (re: outsourcing) in America fucked up, it is even more fucked up than Communism.
... and there are as many different ways to do infrastructure as there are sys/admins.
Good job, honestly.
OP: There is a saying in coding about documenting your code - 'If it was hard to write, it should be hard to read.' It is a joke, mostly, but it offers insight into your situation.
You didn't pick up everything in your job in a week by reading over someone else's notes (or you would be leaving those notes behind.) I'm guessing you have been there a while and probably invented half the stuff in your shop (procedures, protocols, naming conventions, etc.) so none of it is going to be in a book. There is just some stuff you 'just gotta know', meaning it can't be learned by the normal knowledge gleaning methods, you just gotta know (above which ceiling tiles are the switches, for example.)
The good news is that he (your replacement) doesn't have to do it 'your way' - he just has to get it done
Your company is about to learn that keeping all their tech eggs in one basket (having only one guy) is a bad idea. Even a part timer college kid to shadow you as an intern for $7.50 / hour would have been quite the safety net. Do what you can, but there is no way to safely insure the ongoing performance of all your systems in two weeks - hell it takes a week just for the new guy to figure out how the building is layed out, who is who, and what is what. After that, come up with a way to provide emergency support and price is slightly prohibitively to keep them from abusing it. Take your old hourly rate, times 1.3 and that's what they paid you 40 hours a week to be there, that's your baseline. Twice that per hour, with half an hour as the minimum charge, for all contact / questions leaves them with an emergency way to keep running and gives you a little money to keep your interest piqued.
Glonoinha the MebiByte Slayer