My colleague doesn't have documentation
Posted by AhYesTheSoldier@reddit | sysadmin | View on Reddit | 178 comments
He explicitly said he said he doesn't want to share knowledge in fear of being replaced. What are your thoughts on this?
burghdude@reddit
Good reason to replace him.
Wasabi_Super@reddit
You’re still as replaceable. The lack of documentation just becomes the next persons problem. It doesn’t make you any less fireable.
badaz06@reddit
I think that's on his boss. Technically if he's asked to document what he does, that's part of the job description/requirements. If I invent a widget that makes a million dollars while I'm working for someone, they own it...not me.
bartoque@reddit
I never sit on my knowledge. If I can sort it out, others should be able to do the same also. Also having others do what I do, gives me room to do better and more interesting and importing things.
Also my added value is in having a shitload of experience to see the cause of many issues rather quickly, that others might already were having a go at for days or weeks even.
Using a bird's eye view, stepping back slightly, getting the clear overview however is something that not everyone is able to excel at however apparently. So if any documentation can help on that, preventing them having to reach out to me, then my task is done and the reasoning for documenting stuff was therefor meaningful.
And being able to search things is also my forté. That amazes me the most the way I am able to find meaningful resources that help solving issues, unlike others that find mainly meaningless info.
It is helped by the fact that I sift pretty much each day through KB articles, due to which errors trigger my memory that I read something about it. So kinda pre-emptive research, knwoinh about existing issues before they actually occur in our end.
WantDebianThanks@reddit
Sounds oddly like the specific thing that should get him fired.
IT is a team sport son. If you want to play hero ball, get a different career
sloancli@reddit
You're fired. Here's why.
Most professional codes explicitly encourage sharing best practices, mentoring others, and continuous learning. Violating this can be seen as unprofessional. Peer‑to‑peer mentoring fosters growth, empowerment, and improves morale.
Employees have duties to their employer and to their profession to act with honesty, integrity, and cooperativeness. Keeping a secret that could help others violates that duty. Participating in cross‑department knowledge‑sharing breaks silos and encourages inter‑disciplinary innovation.
Documenting processes (wikis, SOPs, runbooks) turns tacit expertise into explicit knowledge, reducing single‑point failure. If you can't get fired because you irreplaceable, you also can't go on vacation, ever.
But above all, it's a selfish attitude that lacks humility. Selfish ambition is akin to narcissism.
0kt3t@reddit
The best folks in techs aren’t the best because of technical expertise, but because they have wisdom in the form of calm rational approaches to issues. This reeks of immaturity & insecurity. Doesn’t sound like someone who would be fun to work with. Plus, there’s probably a workplace policy he is violating that requires documentation.
AhYesTheSoldier@reddit (OP)
It's not fun,that's for sure.
0kt3t@reddit
My condolences, friend.
RaNdomMSPPro@reddit
Immediately fire if this person worked for me.
Otto-Korrect@reddit
Yup, we have to work as a team, any if one person is hoarding information it hurts us all. And with my short term memory I don't even know what I did last month, much less how I did it.
223454@reddit
I used to work with someone who did the same thing. I shadowed him one day to try to document things (that I was expected to do but didn't know how to), and he would run through steps so fast I couldn't write it all down and intentionally made it hard to follow him. He was pushed out a year later and we had to spend a ton of time figuring out and documenting everything. He went from having a reputation of knowing everything and being the go to IT person, to having a bad reputation and hated by the rest of IT.
NaturalHabit1711@reddit
Unless he has a lot of custom software or legacy software the new guy will figure out how the systems work.
If it is custom made or legacy management should state that documenting isn't optional.
CriticalMine7886@reddit
That's an old man's mindset. I used to see it all the time when I was an engineer.
The thing this type forgets is that they also can't be promoted because there will be no one to backfill their role. It's a head-in-the-sand, I'm going nowhere idea.
KingDaveRa@reddit
They're also very wrong. I've seen a few people try and dig themselves in, engineer a world only they know and make themselves invaluable - only to get removed and the world goes on without them.
It's a level of arrogance as much as anything - only they know how this works. They forget there's umpteen other people out there who also know it. And might know it better.
Nobody is indispensable.
Gainside@reddit
good orgs value people who share knowledge and make others stronger, not those who hold it hostage....
SuboptimalSupport@reddit
That's the easiest way to get yourself replaced.
No documentation means sooner or later, you're not going to know the details of how things work. If something breaks, or the bosses want a change or improvement, at best it's going to take you longer than it should, at worst, you'll be the one breaking things. You won't be able to point to anything for why things take longer, or warn partners if they're going to cause a problem, and you won't be able to point to anything to say why something is a bad choice, or why it wasn't your fault.
There's countless reasons and ways for leadership to replace someone, no need to make yourself a problem.
headcrap@reddit
Inform your manager, he should be put on a PIP for that.
Okay_Periodt@reddit
I had a workplace where I was the only person across my entire department that was creating documentation (mostly for myself). It comes as no surprise that the entire place was a shitshow where nobody knew what to do and always pointing fingers at each other instead of just taking time to create any reasonable plan and document.
Which, funny enough, is visible externally. I've spoken to other leaders in that field and they outright sad "you worked at BLANK. isn't that place dying?"
Klutzy_Act2033@reddit
Yea, 100%. If documentation isn't a job requirement that would be surprising.
People like this are a liability and usually not as valuable as they think.
ElectricOne55@reddit
This is how my job is. When I first was hired I was told 3 different ways to do a process. The manager and senior tech engineer are really technical and seem to just want to withhold info to themselves. To learn they told me just to watch a video call of the steps. But, what are you going to remember from a 1 hour video call?
Klutzy_Act2033@reddit
I think a lot of us forget what it was like starting out. Both in the sense that we forget how much of a struggle it can be, but also I think we forget that work culture has changed a fair amount.
I'm 19 years out of my first real L1 position and the office was way more chill back then. If there was an hour long video I'd have been told to watch it, take notes, and turn it into a procedure. More importantly, I'd have had the time to do it.
ElectricOne55@reddit
I meant like not a training video but and actual video call live where a teammate is on a migration weekly step meeting. When I started everyone would be on a diffferent part of the migration and it was confusing.
dustojnikhummer@reddit
When we had our explosive growth phase we unfortunately fell into this. BUT, my boss took advantage of that. One of the new guys was tasked with writing all the info down from a call and then the two of them sat down and created the missing docs out of that. New guy had the time for it and my boss didn't have to waste so much time.
ElectricOne55@reddit
I think part of the problem is the people on my team are knowledge hoarders and there's not much documentation either
kamomil@reddit
Trying to increase their job security
Zenkin@reddit
IT people that attempt to hoard knowledge like a dragon with a pile of gold are outing themselves as completely incompetent. It's like holding up a giant flag which says "I don't learn or grow."
ncc74656m@reddit
Documentation and knowledge sharing is mandated in any team I run. I'll absolutely try to get rid of anyone pulling this crap, and you're damn sure not getting a promotion or any raise I have input into. I'll make sure every manager that asks to have you transferred is aware you hoard knowledge to try to save yourself at the expense of the team and company.
Documentation is required because we need to know why something might be happening, and if it's something we caused. I once had an issue with iOS users being unable to enumerate contacts on their devices because I disabled enumeration on our Entra to try to tighten up security a bit. I documented that change and it helped me more quickly roll it back when it caused problems. It's also critical for remembering how you did This One Weird Trick that saved your bacon in the past.
Knowledge sharing is necessary because you never know when you'll need to call in help, when you could be out sick, or frankly, when you quit with zero notice. Business continuity is part of your job. It's literally the only part of your work that is fully intended to continue when you leave.
Also, yes, sometimes someone you trained gets promoted over you. That's not necessarily a bad thing. For one thing, they will remember that you are a team player. For another, they'll probably look on you fondly as having helped them get where they are. Those are both good things to be known for.
Occasionally, you'll be replaced by the person you trained. You were going to be replaced anyway, and sometimes the company will just rip off the bandaid and get rid of you and hope that it hurts less in three months than keeping you on would have.
In short, tl;dr, if you have to defend your job by hoarding knowledge and keeping what you do a secret, you probably deserve to not have that job. Universally these are the worst people to work with, too. I've never met a really good person who refuses cross training and backstopping. Also, they're not always that good, either.
PC_3@reddit
The way one of my managers told me is, I will approve all your PTO request but if there is no documentation or someone else that knows how to do what you do, you better answer your phone.
Or create documentation / cross train and you wont have to hear my voice while you are on vacation.
Now thats the mentality i take.
Spare-Owl-229@reddit
I document well enough that I understand what's going on there, but anyone else would require a cryptography degree🤣
Also to ensure that when they inevitably do replace you and realize it didn't work, you can negotiate and say you'll only work on a consulting basis
Basically just making sense of your work to the others who didn't do the work and getting paid more. Works like a charm and you can generally negotiate to also work another job if you'd like to
Dragon_Flu@reddit
Replaced or not, everything he does he is starting from zero.
AhYesTheSoldier@reddit (OP)
Meaning in a nad way?
ARX7@reddit
Meaning documentation frequently helps yourself. I don't need to refigure how to do a thing, I follow my own documented process.
BerkeleyFarmGirl@reddit
Yeah it is gold for the things I do only once in a while, like "renew the certs for Exchange" or "build a new firewall".
BloodAndTsundere@reddit
This why IaC is gold. If done right, it’s documentation that you can run
flunky_the_majestic@reddit
Certs doesn't need IaC.
BloodAndTsundere@reddit
I didn't mean cert renewal specifically but rather "things I do only once in a while". And if you keep it modular or use idempotent processes, you don't need to tear down your whole infra to use IaC even to do tiny things like cert renewal.
flunky_the_majestic@reddit
ahh, I see. Yeah, this is something that I'm working on quite a bit. It's such a relief when a manual process becomes an idempotent automation. "Did this thing get done? Did it run on as scheduled? I dunno, I'll just run it and be sure it happens."
goingslowfast@reddit
Way too many people need to relearn their cert renewal requirements each year.
ScreamingVoid14@reddit
And how to apply them on a half dozen different web servers.
Sasataf12@reddit
Such a great feeling when you think "I should've written this down last time" and then realizing you did!
AhYesTheSoldier@reddit (OP)
That's true. Basic stuff is templates for ticketing, but it can be applied anywhere.
knightofargh@reddit
You aren’t writing docs for someone else. Docs are there for future-you at 3 AM after getting a wakeup call. Write them with that in mind. Add pictures if it’s a GUI.
flunky_the_majestic@reddit
I know what a GUI is, but in my frame of mind, reading your comment, I thought you were referring to writing documentation for your future drunk self. My brain filled in "Guesswork Under the Influence" for GUI.
knightofargh@reddit
Also who you are writing for.
Especially docs for third shift T1 guys fresh out of college.
silentstorm2008@reddit
Yes. Tell him there is no advantage of keeping that knowledge of it's the same result that he gets replaced.
telvox@reddit
Meaning i dont remember what I had for lunch yesterday. That server is fixed 4 months ago? Not a chance. Documentation helps you remember as much as others.
goingslowfast@reddit
Yes. Current me often hates past me.
Past me was bad at documentation and I’ll go to do something, hit a wall, then realize: “I had the answer to this, fixed it, and patted myself on the back 3 years ago.”
Only to have to burn all the time I did 3 years ago to find the same answer. Except that search likely takes longer because sources expire and get buried with team.
peteybombay@reddit
Meaning he seems like a "bad actor" and if he is intent on not doing his job just to ensure he is needed, you can't really trust anything he does even if he did document it...especially if he was forced to.
So, when he does get fired, you will have to start from zero regardless of what he has captured.
AhYesTheSoldier@reddit (OP)
I'm doing my own thing with it. In a way I know how.
Defconx19@reddit
They're saying his logic is shit. If they want to fire him and he doesnt document anything all it means is someone spends a few days figuring it out. The result for him is the same.
You're always better of documenting and looking like you know what you're doing/are professional. Rather than your co-worker thinking "i cant get fired if I'm the only one who knows this stuff!"
cuddle-bubbles@reddit
she may have superb memory. check mate
TwoTemporary7100@reddit
I'm sure he has documentation, he's just not sharing it. I speak as a fellow knowledge hoarder. But I don't feel bad about not sharing stuff I go out of my way to teach myself.
OnlyWest1@reddit
He probably has his own local notes..
stonecoldcoldstone@reddit
not necessarily, he might have documented it for himself just not the company
bbqwatermelon@reddit
I don't remember where I saw this loop but it was learn, do, teach. We don't have to give away all goodies but putting down what is configured and why relieves so much weight to carry around it is therapeutic.
ImplementStreet1137@reddit
This is very common issue, but you have to look at this on both sides. Your colleague probably seen lot cases and now he/she is scare that will happen to him/her. Lot companies this very same thing to let senior trained newly employees they pay cheap and fired senior employee once the training is done. You can get what you need from your colleague and document yourself for future use. or you can convince your colleague that no one can take what he/she owned as skills so they can share.
duranfan@reddit
I guess he never wants to go on vacation again, either, then, eh?
BuffaloRedshark@reddit
It won't stop him from being replaced, it'll just screw the rest of the team
AhYesTheSoldier@reddit (OP)
I'm the rest of the team, lol
dustojnikhummer@reddit
Honestly, go over him, go to his superiors. If they are willing to listen, keep trying. If they are covering him, get out of dodge.
BloodFeastMan@reddit
Replace him. People do stuff like that because they know that they can't keep on a level playing field.
texags08@reddit
Shit I document everything to make exiting easier
ipreferanothername@reddit
i kick myself when i havent documented something i thought was straightforward, or even the odd regular expression or bit of powershell when at the time it seemed to clear....or i just forgot to do that one bit.
dustojnikhummer@reddit
What idiot didn't write this dow.... ooohhh.... oh noooo
illicITparameters@reddit
Same. I never want post-seperation calls/texts.
reddithooknitup@reddit
I don't mind. My rate is $400/hr.
dustojnikhummer@reddit
It depends. Did we leave on good terms? Is a manager or a former colleague asking? Do I still like the guy? Does it take less than 15 seconds of thinking and explaining etc etc. Otherwise agreed. Either they pay (and you win) or they leave you alone (you win)
Aerodyne-Jazz@reddit
“How do I do this again? You showed me 18 times but I don’t remember”
ElectricOne55@reddit
This is how my job is. When I first was hired I was told 3 different ways to do a process. The manager and senior tech engineer are really technical and seem to just want to withhold info to themselves. To learn they told me just to watch a video call of the steps. But, what are you going to remember from a 1 hour video call where they're talking about a bunch of random stuff with the client?
RaNdomMSPPro@reddit
I document everything in hopes of documenting myself out of a job, so to speak.
dustojnikhummer@reddit
(Un)Fortunately, documentation never stops
Ssakaa@reddit
I love automation for the same.
man__i__love__frogs@reddit
Hell I take pride in it, one of the biggest compliments another tech can give me is praise on my documentation for something lol.
gumbrilla@reddit
Yeah, when I do a thing, I document exactly how I did it, with screenshots and an idiot guide.
The idiot I write it for is me. I hate having to figure out the same thing twice, and if I don't do something for a month, or whatever, I forget.
dustojnikhummer@reddit
Honestly, if I was management, his unwillingness to document would be considered malicious. Either document or leave. Might as well deal with your issue on our own terms.
He will get fired, change job, retire or die (bus factor) at some point and he is only fucking over the person who will have to untangle his mess. And we have enough posts about that "I just got hired and there is no documentation".
In fact, couldn't this be a grounds for a lawsuit in the US (I know everyone is, and has to be, quite lawsuit happy over there), withholding corporate info or maybe even blackmail to an extend?
notHooptieJ@reddit
great way to get replaced!
Much-Mention-7197@reddit
I feel that visibility is a bigger factor. The company can lay you off with or without documentation, your lack of documentation just becomes your colleague’s problem at that point. I write tons of documentation, got handed a system run by someone who got laid off and had zero documentation
Reedy_Whisper_45@reddit
I document so that I CAN be replaced.
I used to work for a crappy employer. I documented everything because I didn't want the poor soul who replaced me to suffer as I did when I took the job. We're now good friends. While the employer is crappy, hundreds of families EAT regularly because of their jobs. Can't let them down.
I now work for a great employer. I document everything because, at some point, I may want to work somewhere else, and I can't do that if I can't hand it off. I won't do that to them.
TheWino@reddit
We’re going through the hell of someone who kept 0 documentation for 30 years. He’s now getting severance and an extra 3 months of pay to explain it all to a group of engineers. Works out for some people sometimes.
Adventurous_Pin6281@reddit
So ops colleague is onto something
Knightshadow21@reddit
That feels bad what is the topics that he did maintain
Signal_Till_933@reddit
In my experience it does not keep you from getting replaced, only screws over the poor soul(s) who come next making half your wage lol.
Not to mention he is actively screwing himself over, but I suppose anyone who refuses to keep documentation due to fear isn't really thinking rationally...
Maybe he SHOULD be replaced?
AhYesTheSoldier@reddit (OP)
He's not the nicest person either..
Extension-Ant-8@reddit
Yeah that is obvious. For what it’s worth I’ve let people go purely for “Information Hording” During a P1 if you want to be scrambling to find someone’s number and hope they remember some esoteric config. This fucks over the team and department. People with this dumb shit attribute are always the worse kind who generally are not every good at their jobs. If they were honest and open and a pleasure to deal with, they might find people might help them learn a thing or two.
The_Glass_Tiger@reddit
This is so refreshing even to read. My manager covers for our awful team lead and vice versa. They are voluntarily obsolete and protect each other with jargon.
Extension-Ant-8@reddit
Our team has a rule. If you cannot find the setting or information you are looking for within 30 seconds we/you have failed. Intune policy? GPO? Powershell script? Anything. Documents and even procedures.
This means we do have extremely long and verbose configuration names. And almost no acronyms. But as I say “you don’t get charged for using more letters”. People who make changes or configs without it get publicly shamed.
The_Glass_Tiger@reddit
When do i start? 😜
pawwoll@reddit
You said that diplomatically i assume
"Shouts at ppl, impulsive, explosive" type?
AhYesTheSoldier@reddit (OP)
Thinks he's being assertive but actually being a jackass
YLink3416@reddit
I get this. Usually it stems from some sort of insecurity. It's tough to deal with. Your best case is often to make observational notes and catch cases where your other user fails.
flunky_the_majestic@reddit
True. Often, the person who makes the decision to fire an IT worker has very little understanding of their technical competence. They don't care about the documentation they left behind, and are planning on a gap anyway, while their replacement gets caught up.
Royal_Cod_6088@reddit
I own an IT company - if I found an employee refused to document processes then they are fired. Immediately. That's a person creating a toxic culture of unprofessional behavior.
ThemB0ners@reddit
Sounds like he needs replacing
Character-Welder3929@reddit
Instant replace
Followed by legal notice of demand seeing as it's company IP he's withholding
vogelke@reddit
Point out to him that he's just made himself indispensable in his current position and therefore has no hope of advancement or promotion.
ChrisXDXL@reddit
Who said he has to allow others access to it, also I highly doubt documentation will make a difference if they want to fire him
XB_Demon1337@reddit
"I would love to be able to attempt this project, but unfortunately Bob is the only one who has the information about this and he has refused to share this information with me. "
Either The boss and HR fix the issue, or you find some other place to go.
AhYesTheSoldier@reddit (OP)
This.
1a2b3c4d_1a2b3c4d@reddit
Sounds like a management problem. Does your boss or department require documentation?
AhYesTheSoldier@reddit (OP)
The boss is not that involved, and my senior is the one working without documenting. The dept. does require documentation since this is a production site with on prem infrastructure, at least ten VLANs and specialized non commercial applications.
13Krytical@reddit
I personally don’t need much custom documentation… I tend to memorize/understand the jest of how things are done based on generic docs provided by the vendor, but I’ve been doing this for 14 years professionally at this point.. 20+ overall…
Most systems can either be reviewed easily as is, or based on config exports.
I find that the only people who typically request documentation, are people who don’t want to spend as much time understanding things themselves, they want you to spend your time, and you do the translation for them. They want you to provide them the easy to understand version, often wanting you to document their part of the work for them.
I don’t document by default, because most of the time I’ve spent on documentation, was wasted by people refusing to utilize the documentation, or it gets used so infrequently, that it’s always out of date and requires a complete review to update it every time you use it.
If the company wants to replace you, a lack of documentation won’t matter much…
If someone wants me to document something, I do, but I assess the actual usage/usefulness and person requesting, and give the due level of diligence.
Stringsandattractors@reddit
People think it gives them job security. It doesn’t.
fdeyso@reddit
I don’t even remember all the stuff i did 3 months ago, i read my own KBs too
denmicent@reddit
What a bizarre justification. What if he’s sick? What if he gets hit by a bus? NO ONE is able to access the things he works on?
AhYesTheSoldier@reddit (OP)
He's on vacation for two and a half weeks and I'm left with a read-only account for a firewall and no clear procedures for lesser and major issues. :D
Relying on colleagues from another country who aren't always available since they have their own site to maintain.
mrtuna@reddit
if your account is read-only, all the documentation in the world won't help you.
denmicent@reddit
Oh gee well that seems reasonable. Hope you do by need to make a firewall change lol. Can management give you guidance? Maybe someone has some knowledge overlap?
AhYesTheSoldier@reddit (OP)
I have yet to reach out to higher-ups. He kept that part from me as well. But I grabbed the names once :D
Knightshadow21@reddit
Do you have allot of experience, if so be a bit rude and mail your manager and the CAB team and put the bastard in cc and ask who is gonna do a change that needs to get done and tell that he is not willing to share knowledge and there is no documentation in place. Use a phrase what is gonna happen if he would get hit by a bus or so then we have a big problem as he is the only one with access.
You know a workplace is bad when people live on so called islands and nobody shares knowledge with each other in the team. It’s fine that there is an expert but everybody should know a little and then there should be documentation.
What I read it sounds like a shit show. Aka gain knowledge get papers and run away to asap to a other company
illicITparameters@reddit
It’s unfortunately not uncommon at all.
denmicent@reddit
I know man and I’ve worked with a lot of those guys.
I don’t do anything without telling people so no one is ever going to say denmicent changed something or did this and we didn’t know, or he didn’t give us credentials or anything else.
GullibleDetective@reddit
Talk to your boss about him
Tridisha_@reddit
Exactly. The real benefit of documentation is for yourself. It prevents you from having to rediscover solutions and lets you move on to new, more challenging problems.
punkwalrus@reddit
I knew people like this. "Irreplaceable knowledge." They get fired anyway by someone who doesn't even know who they are.
doyouvoodoo@reddit
Irreplaceable is also un-promotable.
Ok-Double-7982@reddit
That's the sign of a bad manager. A good manager does not tolerate this kind of bs.
musiquededemain@reddit
he is not a team player and keeps important info to himself. He needs to be replaced.
MasterTater02@reddit
Unfortunately a typical response from employee's who try to silo knowledge as a way to be important due to lack of self confidence. Shoulder surf when you can, and take on incidents when they arise so you can learn what hes in charge of. All the best.
Aloha_Tamborinist@reddit
He's an insecure idiot and should be replaced ASAP. Knowledge hoarding is a waste of everyone's time.
I document everything and will step my helpdesk guys through trickier processes so they can learn too.
DarthJarJar242@reddit
Tell him this from an IT manager:
"If you figured it out someone else can too. Not documenting doesn't save your job, it just makes you worse at your job since you have to start from 0 everytime you have to troubleshoot something."
If someone on my team doesn't have a second that knows how to do a task they normally do I tell them to train someone, if they don't I assign them a ticket that doesn't get closed until I'm satisfied their backup is trained. I don't play this knowledge silo game.
Panda-Maximus@reddit
Knowledge silos do not guarantee employment. I've dealt with so many idiots with that mindset.
981flacht6@reddit
Not uncommon. People think that stops them from being replaced. Instead it makes them look like someone who isn't a team player and also, probably forgets a lot of things that could otherwise make them seem more competent on the face and probably long term they'd accomplish more.
But whatever.. nothing is that hard to figure out, unless you need the formula for concrete.
mcds99@reddit
Yea "job security" was the term folks use to use and sharing knowledge was not done "learn it yourself I did". So many comments like that.
And then Agile came in to corporate IT, it all changed and managers were on the AH's the same day. You have to document everything, I felt so good that I had my documentation for everything I did.
throwaway0000012132@reddit
Not sharing documentation or process has at least three things: - creates operational risk for the business and - limits any kind of career progress for the one that doesn't share since he's the one doing everything by himself, thus any career progress is halted since he's not easily replaced. - it also creates a false sense of job security as well.
However, for decades I was against the idea of not sharing documentation and process; it creates a bad work environment, toxic teams and creates silos, where all the knowledge is ransom for a couple of people.
Now, with the advent of AI and more people getting dumped because of automation, I see that enterprises don't have any qualms and fire people (or just pushed them into irrelevant tasks so they can quit by themselves) once they have reached a level of automation that it can even replace the majority of the people tasks / work.
So, in order to fight against this, more and more people are not creating enough documentation, because they are seeing that replacement is coming faster for the ones that have everything documented.
It is survivability for anyone above 50 years old and I find this even worse than before, because before it was just toxic people that wanted job security, now everyone is a valid target.
hobovalentine@reddit
Not sharing information won't save him from layoffs.
While in the short term it may make you look indispensable but not being a team player catches up to you in the long run unless you happen to work at a really small company where turnover is pretty low.
itmgr2024@reddit
Totally unacceptable. Can impact your job. A discussion between the two of you first, then involving your manager.
Royal_Cod_6088@reddit
Is this person an employee or a contractor? If a contractor, he's paid to produce a result. If he's an employee he has a duty to look out for the company's best interest and perform a "best reasonable effort" for business continuity. That means documentation of your processes. Plus... it's the professional thing to do.
WatTambor420@reddit
Like he’s s not a legal resident? I wouldn’t sweat it but it’s your call I guess
SaintEyegor@reddit
We had someone like that. Guarded knowledge very closely and managed to convince my clueless boss to have sole control over the puppet deployment. Zero documentation as well. He was pretty good at Puppet but an absolutely shite Linux admin. When he left, services came crashing down since he’d set things up to run as him, so when his account was terminated, things crashed immediately.
Thankfully, it was the beginning of the end for clueless boss too since he’d fostered that behavior
ShadowCVL@reddit
And that ladies and gentlemen is how you wind up getting replaced.
Documentation means you can move on to new better more fun things.
ProgramHuman32@reddit
I was once this person at my first professional job. I was then told by one of the best managers I’ve ever encountered that I was limiting my own growth. If you’re the only one that can do your job, you won’t be promoted, they need you in your job. If you’re the only one that can do it, you become too valuable in that role and you have effectively devalued yourself in a sense. They instructed me to learn to document and delegate and sure enough once someone was ready to move into my role, I was promoted. But it didn’t really resonate me before that conversation that if I wanted to get stuck in that role, I absolutely could do that, but I wouldn’t be growing professionally the way me and my manager knew I wanted to.
Key_Pace_2496@reddit
The company doesn't give two shits about that lmao.
ButtHole-DinnerSurpr@reddit
This should be a convo with your manager. Dude is a massive liability.
Abracadaver14@reddit
Get him replaced asap.
SecurePackets@reddit
At my current company that’s how you get promoted!
Shadow IT never dies!!
fatDaddy21@reddit
replace him
OntarioJack@reddit
He's a liability not an asset. We had one of those, when he was let go, we just replaced the systems he was responsible for with new ones. Turns out we were better off without him.
123ihavetogoweeeeee@reddit
That is usually the case with those that don’t want to knowledge share.
123ihavetogoweeeeee@reddit
I had a conversation with my supervisor. He told me we don’t write documentation because you might have to rewrite it in five ten years….. ok boss man.
Low_Monitor2443@reddit
Been there. I call it Gollum ' syndrome
The book says praise in public reprimand in private....
After several months I sent my notice.
Nobody cared, managers, etc. Not my monkeys not my circus 🎪
MelonOfFury@reddit
I would absolutely replace anyone who refuses to share documentation. I would rather start from scratch than deal with someone like that.
paleologus@reddit
You longer he’s there the harder it’s going to be.
Knightshadow21@reddit
Depending on what it is build a new environment or replace it piece by piece and. Document it all
dlongwing@reddit
Good admins aren't replaced because they've left a ton of solid docs behind.
Bad admins aren't kept around because there's no documentation.
Schrojo18@reddit
When I started my previous job out of the 4 of us plus our direct manager 3 were new to the business. The previous guys were terrible at doco so given that we had a lot of learning to do that year we did a lot of doco which made life easier for everyone including ourselves. It means that when someone wanted to do something we could quickly check the doco or if it was a yearly task we didn't miss anything. It was also good if anything was going to be integrated we could just give the doco to the people planning that so when we came to do the work there was everything required with us having to do less directly on those tasks/projects
Hotshot55@reddit
Then he should probably be replaced either way.
BerkeleyFarmGirl@reddit
Yeah that's not an uncommon attitude. Sometimes it is backed up with bitter experience.
I've been in the position a lot where I've had to come in and clean up after those people.
(I am sure my last job complains about it, but they didn't have a consistent documentation repository and they didn't give me time to do it in any case. My current boss loves that I love to write up stuff.)
FrivolousMe@reddit
I don't agree with this practice, but it's pretty ironic that everyone in this thread is clamoring to fire the guy when that was his motivating factor
CaptainBrooksie@reddit
Unfortunately this is a very common toxic trait.
In my experience people who are like this are very difficult to work with.
They never share information, will keep things they work on secret, will lie to keep their mistakes secret, highlight the mistakes of others and generally obstruct and sabotage others to stop them getting ahead.
yojimboLTD@reddit
Not a great plan, in fact thinking you are more important than the job/work is a sure fire way to burn bridges internally. That sweet summer child can and will be fired like anyone else.
AhYesTheSoldier@reddit (OP)
Yeah, I don't respect him at all. Sad but true.
yojimboLTD@reddit
I hear that, trust is a big part of this too. Hard to trust a gate keeper, it could be questionable they are even doing shit right lol
_kalron_@reddit
I did extensive documentation for the work I do a couple years ago when we spun up a Bookstack site for our team. My documentation showed the extent of my workload and showed how valuable I am to the team. I got a fat juicy raise that year.
In addition, I can afford to take vacations now because someone can follow my documentation easily to back me up when I am out.
I have no fear of being replaced and knowledge sharing is good for all.
FlaccidRazor@reddit
He needs to be replaced immediately.
whatsforsupa@reddit
Alternatively, seems like a good reason TO be replaced lol.
Management should be pushing documentation to cover "their" asses in case the person leaves the company as well.
maximumdownvote@reddit
Thats a good way to be replaced. It's one of the classic blunders, the first of which is never get involved in a land war in asia, but only slightly less well know, is fear based decision making is more likely to enact exactly what you fear instead of avoiding it.
Expensive_Plant_9530@reddit
IMO this would make a lot of companies want to replace him. He's trying to hold the company hostage with his knowledge.
What happens if he gets hit by a bus walking to work?
uptimefordays@reddit
I’ve seen more people let go for knowledge hoarding than I’ve seen for knowledge sharing.
Defconx19@reddit
Documentation or not, you'll get replaced. MSP's get an easy in if nothing is documented. "If your team got hit by a bus do they have everything documented to keep you guys running?"
No documentation makes for a bumpy road for a bit, but there are plenty of people who can walk into a network with no documentation and get squared away pretty quickly.
Everyone is replaceable.
Extension_Cicada_288@reddit
People like this give us a bad name. If he was working for me he’d have a very difficult conversation ahead of him.
But let’s be honest. Management is letting him get away with it
AhYesTheSoldier@reddit (OP)
That's true yeah. He's on very good terms with them.
my_uname@reddit
C$ to his computer and grab it from there
AhYesTheSoldier@reddit (OP)
Hah, if there was any I would.
Recent_Carpenter8644@reddit
I suspect this is way more common than you'd hope. For anyone who's been through a recession, and been or seen people laid off, it's a tempting thing to do. I suspect some people are just lazy though.
It's not just the documenting, there's also private documenting, and non promotion of documentation. A good sharer will also actively offer to familiarise others with changes.
I've been through the hard times, but try hard to document and share. Work hoarding is the recession legacy I have trouble shaking.
Anyone who thinks the practice can't harm a business hasn't seen someone keep domain registration details to themselves.
AhYesTheSoldier@reddit (OP)
I was on a service desk before this. Knowledge base is gold.
Beautiful_Duty_9854@reddit
Learn everything you can, document it, and be his replacement.
AhYesTheSoldier@reddit (OP)
I'm learning, documenting to prove to myself how much I've learned and getting the hell out as soon as a better opportunity comes up.
aaiceman@reddit
Wow. I would hate working with that guy. I had a sys admin friend early in my career pass from a horrible accident. It left a HUGE impact on me that we have to document things, complete ticket notes, etc. Even if it's just someone taking PTO (or the more distressing reasons of medical, etc), you shouldn't need to bug someone to get something figured out. That's the level of documentation that is required in any given environment.
RagnarTheRagnar@reddit
I always ask in interviews what people think is important information to document. I had one guy say that he would document everything, how to reset a password in AD, how to update a user attribute and other "important" procedures. I just viewed this as a time waste to look busy as those things can be easily found on the internet and applied to the current environment.
I think the most important items to document are changes from standard deployment. History of known issues with the device. Programming Standards and expectations. Codebase with comments and reference tools for IT. Verified pathways of escalation for specific technologies. Asset management and tracking documentation.
Its stuff like that I would expect, not something ITGlue that just generates loads of nonsense data and calls it documentation.
AhYesTheSoldier@reddit (OP)
Yeah, I don't document password resets and recreating outlook profiles. But infrastructure stuff is a must.
illicITparameters@reddit
Talk to your manager. I don’t tolerate knowledge hoarding. I’d rather PIP and possibly terminate than allow a person to hold the team and org hostage due to their own insecurities.
I empathize with those who have insecurities, because no matter how high I go I will always have them. However, I never let them get in the way of me doing the job properly. I expect the same out of my team.
AhYesTheSoldier@reddit (OP)
Wish you were my boss, no joke.
illicITparameters@reddit
Do what I did and use shitty managers as motivation to do better as a team member/employee, and work your way up to a place where you can make be the change you want. It may not be in that org, but every org can use positive change in some way.
AhYesTheSoldier@reddit (OP)
Yeah, unfortunately this place will be a stepping stone to someplace else.
prest0x@reddit
Manager should make this a priority. What if tech gets hits by a bus or spontaneously combusts? There needs to be an updated knowledge base.
AhYesTheSoldier@reddit (OP)
If there was one on site, I guess he would. Dude's in another country.
isuckatrunning100@reddit
The business can replace anyone and still chug along as usual. Your colleague is an idiot.