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We’re hosting a stream on January 21st at 11am CST in the IT Leadership Lab about the topic of being a one-person IT department, and all of the balancing that comes with it. We’ll be chatting with Spiceworks’ very own @PassRusher, who gave a talk on this topic at SpiceWorld 2024!

But before the stream, I wanted to poll some folks on Spiceworks. I’m sure there are plenty of people that are flying solo or have flown solo in IT before, and to those folks I’d love to ask, what advice would you give to someone that’s found themselves in that situation? How do you prioritize your tasks? And how do you ensure that all of the non-negotiables are done? How do you even decide the non-negotiables? And how do you even find time to eat?

15 Spice ups
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  1. Prioritize and Plan
    • Document everything: Keep a record of systems, configurations, passwords, and processes. A centralized knowledge base will save time and reduce stress.
    • Create a task list: Prioritize tasks by urgency and importance. Use tools like Trello, Asana, or even a simple spreadsheet.
    • Establish boundaries: Set realistic expectations with leadership about what can be accomplished alone.

  2. Automate and Simplify
    • Use automation: Automate repetitive tasks like backups, updates, and system monitoring. Tools like PowerShell scripts or automation platforms like NinjaOne, Ansible, Pia, and Baramundi can help.
    • Standardize systems: Simplify IT management by using uniform hardware, software, and processes whenever possible.

  3. Manage Time Wisely
    • Block time for critical tasks: Dedicate focused time for high-priority projects and minimize interruptions during these periods.
    • Delegate or outsource: If possible, outsource specialized tasks like cybersecurity audits or advanced network setups.

  4. Build Resilience
    • Disaster recovery planning: Develop a robust backup and recovery process. Test it regularly.
    • Redundancy: Avoid single points of failure in the IT environment.

  5. Communicate Effectively
    • Educate users: Train employees to follow best practices (e.g., phishing awareness, password hygiene) to reduce support calls.
    • Report metrics: Regularly update leadership on achievements, challenges, and resource needs to advocate for support and resources.

  6. Keep Learning
    • Stay updated: Allocate time for professional development. Online courses, certifications, and IT forums are great resources.
    • Network: Join online communities (like Spiceworks or Reddit’s r/sysadmin ) to share knowledge and seek advice.

  7. Implement a Ticket System
    • Centralize requests: Use a ticketing system (e.g., Spiceworks (totally free and totally awesome), Jura, Freshservice, or Zendesk) to handle all IT support and project requests. This ensures nothing falls through the cracks.
    • Track priorities: Tickets allow you to prioritize tasks and see trends in recurring issues.
    • Set expectations: Use the system to establish service level agreements (SLAs) so users know when they can expect resolutions.
    • Generate reports: Use ticket data to show leadership the volume of work being handled and highlight areas where additional resources may be needed.
    • Knowledge sharing: Document solutions in a knowledge base tied to the ticket system. This reduces repeated inquiries and empowers users to resolve simple issues themselves.

  8. Take Care of Yourself
    • Avoid burnout: Take breaks, set work-life boundaries, and don’t hesitate to ask for help when overwhelmed.
    • Ask for resources: Advocate for additional tools, budget, or part-time support if the workload becomes unmanageable.

21 Spice ups
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More then anything understanding the company’s vision for IT. As a solo IT person it is critical to push the company vision and support it. Sometimes this is front facing and sometimes this is a pure support role.

7 Spice ups
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Don’t be afraid to outsource. One guy can’t be an expert in everything. Your biggest priorities are to plan and maintain. Get a vendor to implement it. There’s a lot of fear amongst solo shows that an MSP will work to replace them. That might be the case with some MSP’s, but most are there to help you (for a price). And there’s plenty of anecdotal evidence that MSP’s who replace IT staff are quickly replaced by new IT staff. You, as an employee, have your company’s best interests at heart. They, as an employee of an MSP, have THEIR company’s best interests at heart.

And understand the difference between needing another IT pro and simply needing a “3rd hand”. There’s no need to get an MSP that charges $$$/hr to, say, swap out monitors. Recognize tasks that a sufficiently trained chimp can perform and find an internal department that can spare a person for a few hours.

12 Spice ups
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Know how to Translate to as many different departments as you can. IT has its own jargon and can’t be used in other places so know how to translate that to whom and where it’s going to. This will sometimes mean you are the Crisis Support Line to help walk a user back from destroying equipment and helping them understand what they have to help them.
This Translation goes all they way to above yourself as well because management and owners may need to understand that their understanding of IT isn’t correct either. Expectations of cost are never the same, even between similar companies. Sometimes the company you’re in will be open to outsourcing, but sometimes that is a dirty word, and needs to be used cautiously.

And take a walk. Sometimes working on different things can get way too stressful and you need to take a few minutes to walk around, the floor, shop, building, etc. These breaks can help you so much as well as get your face out there so people don’t see you as a dark figure that is whispered about with hate, but as someone that’s just there trying to get through the day like everyone else. It’s hard to believe, but perception, self care, and translation are just as important as any job you will work on.

7 Spice ups
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Time Management was huge. Don’t book your entire day. I used to plan ~4 hours and leave the rest of the time open since support is priority. If I had “extra” time, update documentation, otherwise that was scheduled for Friday afternoons.
I don’t know is a valid answer, follow up with I will research.

7 Spice ups
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I like to prioritize things with reminders in my Outlook calendar. This needs looked at reminders. Also a ticketing system is helpful and remind users to use it. When I was solo, if a user stopped by and I didn’t have time, I’d ask them to put in a ticket so I wouldn’t forget about it. As @tim-smith pointed out, use an MSP when needed. When we expanded, I didn’t mind when an external tech put in the fiber card in a switch so we could connect the stacks with fiber.

3 Spice ups
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Oh! One more thing: Keep treats on your desk so people come to talk and not just complain.

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6 Spice ups
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Just remember that when it comes to problems, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one in almost every case.

6 Spice ups
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One thing I’ll add that hasn’t been mentioned yet is to go cookie-cutter as much as possible.
If you can afford it, avoid the temptation to save money by mixing and matching vendors. Being a system integrator is fun from a purely technical standpoint, but it creates more headaches and challenges than it is worth in production. In my first job, my boss was cookie-cutter all the way down to the keyboards and mice we issued to staff. I used to think that was silly until I got to the point where I was managing a much larger environment. I then realized the wisdom in that approach.

Cookie-cutter also includes not just the hardware but the software and imaging as well. Things like consolidating on a single browser can make your life much easier than having to manage Intune/group policy configurations for multiple browsers. Autopilot is a great way to deploy all your specific software and configurations with minimal involvement.

3 Spice ups
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I’ll add emphasis to “Document Everything”, and not just for if (when?) you get hit by a bus and the next guy has to untangle your mess, but more importantly for yourself. As a solo IT person, you’ll likely touch a LOT of different systems, often with large time gaps in between the previous and next times for any given system.

Keeping it all in your head (accurately) is all but impossible. I can’t count the number of times I’ve spent some significant amount of time on something, and know it inside-out in that moment, then not have to touch it again for 6 months outside of regular maintenance. Next time I actually do something complicated with it, I find I’ve forgotten a good chunk of it.

Being a solo IT person usually means the size of your org is small or smallish. Temper your expectations accordingly when it comes to things like budgets, enforcement of policy, whether or not ticketing will “stick”, etc.

Also: Use a good password manager.

5 Spice ups
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  1. Document everything, and regularly update the documentation.

  2. Categorize all the tech you’re using by how complex it is to implement, maintain, troubleshoot, use, etc. into categories from “Dead simple” to “Most complex” (like custom code you wrote yourself).

  3. When trying to solve a problem or deciding how to use technology to fix a problem, make sure it doesn’t fall into a “complexity” category from #2 that’s more complex than everything else you do; unless it’s for good reason and ownership understands the need to support that long-term (like understanding they’d need to a hire a replacement for you that is as-skilled if you leave).

  4. Always try to reduce the complexity.

1 Spice up
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Hang in there. Slow and steady wins the race.

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Be patient. If someone comes to you and says, “how long will it take you to implement this”, figure out how long it SHOULD take, then double it. If you get it done early, kudos to you, you’re a hero, if something else comes up or you hit a snag, you still have time to get it done by your deadline…then your still competent.

Plan, prioritize, learn how to say “No” and DO NOT allow yourself to be taken advantage of.

Know when you need help with somethin and get it. Have a trusted consultant that you can call when you’re in over your head, because you WILL get in over your head eventually. We cannot know it all.

Take care of yourself and don’t burn yourself out. Maintain you relationships and don’t let work get in the way of them!

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I almost call this the Montgomery Scott “Miracle Worker” method.

2 Spice ups
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First advice.
Hire someone.
Tell the business owners you need “business continuity”
Then go on vacation.

3 Spice ups
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Lots of good advice here.

I would only add that you need to be emotionally resilient, and not expect anyone to congratulate you when you hit a homerun (IT-style), because nobody will understand what you did or why it was important (even if you explain it using small words and driving metaphors). To most of your users, you are just the person who fixes the Internet and changes the printer toner, and that’s why they think they need you.

I don’t mean that to sound negative, it’s just the reality of the lone wolf role in many cases, and that’s what many smaller businesses need; someone who keeps their stuff working, and does it quickly with a smile.

This is why websites like Spiceworks are so important; for many of us, it’s our only source of professional validation.

5 Spice ups
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Managing multiple projects is the key to success. There’s always something on the plate or to do and keeping that list manageable will help you to succeed.

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+99 for this. The pressure to think you have to have all the answers on the tip of your tongue will destroy you.

3 Spice ups
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Learn how to help your boss to see that the issues you are dealing with are not “your” problem, but “our” problem. Once I took a problem of needing to purchase another 75 MS Office licenses. My boss, the CFO, asked me what part of my budget I was going to pull the money from to cover the cost. I suggested that I would uninstall MS Office on half the PCs and send a memo out that we had to remove Office because of budget constraints. After a long pause, my boss proceeded to help me figure out where we were going to get the money from, and we went forward with purchasing the new licenses. Now instead of being “my” problem, it became “our” problem to solve.

You are there to help them be successful. The goal is to get them to see the need to help you be successful so you can help them be successful.

3 Spice ups