We Are All Surrounded By Dummies. Be Active Directory Smart.
There are many experts in our field. I could not start naming them without leaving someone off what would be a very lengthy list of people I look up to. What I enjoy about knowing a little bit about these intelligent people is that they continue to share and educate their peers. They recognize that they have a knowledge of something and are willing to share. At the same time, they are willing to learn from one another. That character trait however is not universal.
Occasionally, too often I am afraid, we have overly stoic IT professionals who attempt to take on themselves tasks just because they can. When they do not know of a better way, rather than find an existing solution to a problem, they work to fix or build a solution around the problem themselves. They are less apt to listen to the viewpoints and the suggestions of others. It might be pride, an ingrained trait in the IT professional psyche that requires one to try to fix or build things on their own, or a sense of inflated self-importance and worth that makes my colleagues attempt to do what should really be delegated, relegated, left to others, etc. In my opinion, IT professionals are too valuable to be pulled down the rabbits hole that is “build the solution yourself”.
The biggest tragedy, the total cost of this approach won’t be realized until they are beset by the imminent challenges that comes with a lack of ongoing maintenance and care of the project that inevitably will rear its ugly head. Mind you, tools purpose-built for the ever changing technologies are destined to outlast these Band-Aid approaches.
I hope that this tendency changes and I believe it will as IT professionals become more accustomed to managing tools rather than building tools.
Reminder to self: Let’s not be selfish – need to lead by example. Our founder, Robert Haaverson did that years ago as a consultant to large enterprises and realized that it was too hard for organization to easily maintain group membership with any sense of clarity and even when automated, required regular attention in order to continue relevance. He was repeatedly doing the same thing over and over for multiple companies he was consulting with and realized that there were many other organizations that were probably doing the exact same thing at the same time as well. Light bulb moment – his strategy was to make a software product that could do this for him and make it easier for his peers in the industry to remedy the ongoing mess that is group lifecycle and membership management. He could repeat what he knew worked and implement as a dedicated product that could be used over and over again. Doing so with a continuing refinement based on the knowledge and expertise that a focused effort would develop. More than a decade later, Imanami continues to be that very specific purpose-built solution that has become the go-to tool to use when Active Directory groups are mission critical and essential to the success of your Active Directory deployment. So, what kinds of experiences can Imanami share with you?
- SmartGroups – Active Directory static groups whereby the membership is determined on the intelligence you author. The intelligence is cultivated, not the underpinnings of how that intelligence is used. This way, you spend less time worrying about how it works under the covers and more time and ensuring that the added and likely ever-changing business intelligence is applied. Be a smart user of tools instead of attempting to replace the tool. At some point, people began buying a better hammer instead of trying to build their own hammer. Get the best tool, not replace the tool.
- Delegation – Yes, delegate. This has been discussed before but it bears repeating. If you are responsible for Active Directory, it does not serve your organization well to not only manage policies but then to also manage the minutia of detail that comes with creating, deleting, and maintaining oversight of membership. In fact, as your organization grows, this just ties up more IT resources that should never be a part of IT to begin with.
With Imanami, Active Directory tools for group management purpose-built for the task are a blessing. While more than 700 enterprises agree that deploying this tools has benefited them, you are welcome to find out for yourself. Book a Demo to see if this is an area where we can help. While we have your attention, take advantage of something we offer free of charge. Read our book on Group Management for Dummies. It is an excellent tutorial on Active Directory on best practices for leveraging software tools to manage Active Directory groups.
Jonathan Blackwell
View ProfileSince 2012, Jonathan Blackwell, an engineer and innovator, has provided engineering leadership that has put GroupID at the forefront of group and user management for Active Directory and Azure AD environments. His experience in development, marketing, and sales allows Jonathan to fully understand the Identity market and how buyers think.