Ten years away, and it felt like I never left
A week back with the Australian Mac admin community that gave me my name a decade ago - notes from X World 2026 in Melbourne.
Posts tagged "mac admin"
I was afraid to go back to Penn State Mac Admins. I'm glad I did.
Seven years since my last Penn State Mac Admins, and after everything that happened this spring, I wasn't sure how I'd be received. I was wrong to worry.
What I actually think about AI
I write a lot about using AI as a tool. That probably makes me look like a true believer. The answer is more complicated.
How to actually use AI to manage your fleet
The repo is the surface. The instructions file is the manual. The human review keeps it safe.
AI isn't just replacing jobs, it's rewriting the job description
The GM layoffs are a preview of a broader shift. AI isn't simply eliminating tech work - it's changing what tech work looks like. That's not necessarily good. But it's happening.
Yet you participate in society. Curious.
On the cognitive dissonance of working in tech while knowing what tech is doing.
A response to 'Engineering in the Age of AI'
AI didn't change whether you need to understand what you ship. It changed how much of it you wrote yourself.
Conditional values aren't values
Sticking to your values is easy until it costs you something. That's when you find out if you actually have them.
Is AI going to solve all of our problems?
AI is powerful. That's not the interesting question. The interesting question is why we haven't solved these problems already.
Device management is about to change. AI is why. GitOps is how.
AI can't accelerate your device management workflow if your config lives in a GUI. Here's why GitOps is the prerequisite for everything that's about to happen in this space.
The bottleneck moved. Are you ready for it?
AI is making code cheaper to write. That means the constraint in software development, and device management, has shifted to product design and QA.
It's time to let go of your local admin account
That shared admin password across your entire Mac fleet? It's not a safety net - it's a liability.
Stop clicking and start committing: why endpoint management needs to catch up
Other IT disciplines figured out configuration as code years ago. It's time endpoint management joined them.
OpenClaw is amazing and you probably shouldn't run it
The viral AI agent is everything we wanted. It's also a security researcher's nightmare. Here's what you need to know.
Keep your Mac fleet updated automatically with FleetImporter
FleetImporter's new automatic update policies make it easier to keep your Mac fleet running the latest software versions without manual intervention.
I've been taking about Declarative Device Management since 2017. Most vendors still don't get it.
Vendors sell 'DDM' but still make you click through GUIs. Real declarative management means your git repo IS your device configuration. Here's the difference.
Why vendor-managed app catalogs aren't the answer
Vendor app catalogs are useful, but they're not the complete answer. Why IT teams still need control over software deployment timing and custom packages.
I lied about never using a Mac: from Mouse Practice to Mac admin
I recently told the MacAdmins podcast that when I applied to work at the Apple Store in 2008, I didn't know anything about computers and I had never used a Mac before. That's not entirely true. I've actually been using Macs for most of my life.
My experimental Fleet AutoPkg processor is ready for Fleet v4.74.0 gitops YAML changes
Fleet v4.74.0 will introduce breaking changes to gitops YAML. My experimental Fleet autopkg processor is already updated to handle the new schema, automatically detecting your server version via the Fleet API and outputting the correct format, no recipe changes needed.