Document It, or It Doesn’t Exist

Not to beat a dead horse, but I wanted to be clear on the importance of IT documentation. To date, I’ve yet to start with a client who already has it. In some cases I’ve been able to force the previous IT support vendor to put something together from their records (always an awkward conversation), but even then it’s been so inaccurate that it is virtually worthless.

I wish I remembered who first told me “document it, or it doesn’t exist”. It might have been my boss when I used to work as a systems admin at a local software developer company, as that mantra is more common with programmers. But of all the advice I’ve been given in my career, that one stands out the most.

Ironically, when I went to technical college, we were taught how to tear down hardware and build it up again, how not to electrocute ourselves, and how to diagnose both hardware and software issues with computers. But what was woefully absent was any kind of documentation training, which is a real shame. But to be frank, I think this really separates the professionals from the amateurs.

Francis Bacon once famously said “Knowledge is power”. With IT documentation, you harness the power to make informed decisions about your infrastructure.