/var/log/manager: Parables of System Administration Management

I’ve managed intelligent, educated, certified, opinionated, strong-willed, hard-working, and brilliant system administrators across many different companies, industries, states, and countries. Over the years I’ve found different approaches to connect with and motivate people. Sometimes people need to be directly told to do something, sometimes they need to be left alone to figure things out, and sometimes it’s helpful to give them a story that they can use to cope with and overcome challenges. I call these stories my “Parables of Sysadmin.”