Wise words from a Senior Sysadmin that I heard today, fortunately not directed at me.
We hear this often: comment your code, document your processes. How many of us actually do it, and do it in a way that someone else can follow?
Documentation is important for many many reasons. Primarily ensuring that someone else can take over for you if required,
Friday’s are a great day for this, especially if you work in an environment that supports the idea of “read-only Friday” where any change to a production system is banned, and changes to non-production systems are not recommended. Use your time to write documentation, so that if you are sick, or take a vacation, or move on to new opportunities, you can ensure and rest easily knowing that those filling your position either temporarily or permanently are doing so without cursing your name or screwing things up unnecessarily.
And if you’re working on a new project, whether it be building out a system or developing a new tool: If it isn’t documented, then it isn’t done.