Plans and situated actions: the problem of human-machine communication
Plans and situated actions: the problem of human-machine communication
A small matter of programming: perspectives on end user computing
A small matter of programming: perspectives on end user computing
The unified software development process
The unified software development process
Extreme programming explained: embrace change
Extreme programming explained: embrace change
Agile software development
System administrators are users, too: designing workspaces for managing internet-scale systems
CHI '03 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems
End users creating effective software
CHI '04 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Field studies of computer system administrators: analysis of system management tools and practices
CSCW '04 Proceedings of the 2004 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work
Oops! Coping with Human Error in IT Systems
Queue - System Failures
Error Messages: What's the Problem?
Queue - System Failures
The first workshop on end-user software engineering
Proceedings of the 27th international conference on Software engineering
Human factors affecting dependability in end-user programming
WEUSE I Proceedings of the first workshop on End-user software engineering
Activity-based management of IT service delivery
Proceedings of the 2007 symposium on Computer human interaction for the management of information technology
IT ecosystems: evolved complexity and unintelligent design
Proceedings of the 2007 symposium on Computer human interaction for the management of information technology
Sysadmins and the need for verification information
Proceedings of the 2nd ACM Symposium on Computer Human Interaction for Management of Information Technology
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System administrators are end-users too. And as end-users, they develop tools, create web pages, write command-line scripts, use spreadsheets, and repurpose existing tools. In short, they engage in end-user programming activities in support of their systems management work. We examined system administrator practices in software tool development, operations, and maintenance based on ethnographic field studies at service delivery centers and data centers across the United States. Our findings suggest that software practices were mostly informal and collaborative and mixed within formal change processes; tool development and debugging were interleaved with tool use and maintenance as they interacted with live systems; and the complexity of large-scale systems and the risks involved in changing live and critical systems put increased demands on system administrators. We argue that system administrators might benefit from certain software engineering methodologies such as agile software development and software modeling.