as i said in an earlier post that it is difficult – if not impossible – to set measurable objectives for system administrators or design metrics for sysadmin performance. suppose you manage it somehow, it cannot still be impervious to subjective judgement (of the supervisor) or rigging results (by the assessee). performance appraisal (PA,) naturally becomes a pointless chore. i searched on the web for ways to set assessable objectives or metrics for administrators. some ideas posted on serverfault seem to be the common ones. (not that i agree with them, as you will presently see):
1. uptime of the system
2. number of preventable incidents (lesser = good performance )
3. response time for incidents
4. resolution time for incidents
5. if there is a ticketing system, number of tickets (according to KPI)
any seasoned admin will tell you that in real-life the above is either unrealistic or can be adjusted. we will deal with them one by one, in our upcoming posts and show how PA fails with sysadmins. another question of how to rate a sysadmin was summed up by someone (not me) thusly:
a good sysadmin can:
1. keep systems running
2. prioritize well
3. keep you informed of what you need to know
4. complete projects in a timely manner
5. provide accurate estimates of time and resources needed
6. explain things
7. maintain confidentiality
8. ethical behavior
9. useable documentation
10. continue learning
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