Admin Tip: Status Whiteboard

This is a nice idea I've picked up over the years: Keep an employee status board on or near the door to the IT offices. This is just a simple whiteboard with key bits of information on the IT staff: When they're planning on being out of the office, Where they are in the office/campus, and how they can be contacted. For a staff that's running around a lot, this helps in tracking down people. When somebody calls in sick, just jot that down-- and nobody wonders where they are.

This is also a nice low tech solution that works for other stuff as well. You can put other stuff like on-call rotation info, important contact/escalation procedures or a high-priority daily task list. Putting it near the door encourages people to change their status whenever they step in or out.