[There's a reason that Yoda is the unofficial mascot of SBS. Size indeed matters not.] A checklist - THE OFFICIAL BLOG OF THE SBS "DIVA"
Wed, Dec 12 2007 20:04 bradley

A checklist

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/12/10/071210fa_fact_gawande

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17060374

A checklist.  A standard build.  A list of the things that one should do when.

Do you have that?  As much as I sometimes complain about checklist mentalities, that it makes us not think, it also can help remind us and standardize on things.  To confirm before one goes to the next step.

I even see the need sometimes in debugging events.  Someone will say "a patch must have caused this" and yet when they review the system (check the Windows update history for example), there's been no patches.

So do you have a checklist for your tasks?  Your server builds? Your debugging?

"Medicine today has entered its B-17 phase. Substantial parts of what hospitals do—most notably, intensive care—are now too complex for clinicians to carry them out reliably from memory alone. I.C.U. life support has become too much medicine for one person to fly." 

Can one say the same about technology?

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# re: A checklist

Thursday, December 13, 2007 6:10 PM by Axel Larson

If checklists make you not think, you are doing them wrong. Create a new checklist for each important or complex project and do your thinking ahead of time. I worked in the State of California's largest data center. Their change control procedure required a checklist be made before any system change. It had to include a fallback procedure in case something failed. Befor the change was approved for implementation, it had to pass a peer review. These procedures were a large part of the reason our uptime percentage was well over 99%.

# Checklists and Process Improvement

Friday, December 14, 2007 9:27 AM by Greener Pastures

msmvps.com/.../a-checklist.aspx Susan brings this up, and Karl persistently

# re: A checklist

Saturday, December 15, 2007 1:09 PM by Dean

Yes I do ! I have what I call a Standard Server Install document with a whole crapload of things to check off. I have a document for installing the first domain controller in a domain. I have another document for installing Exhange server and another for installing SBS 2003. And they all keep changing as I find out more info. Another reason why I hate having to move to a new operting system every time Microsoft comes out with a new one and stops selling the old one.

I also have an Exchange Disaster Recovery document that is now up to 94 pages and is only about half finished.

# re: A checklist

Saturday, December 15, 2007 1:11 PM by Dean

And another thing. There is no possible way that ANYONE could install any of these complex operating systems and apps without one because there is just plain to much stuff to remember. You are going to forget AT LEAST one thing without one.