I mean, I agree with all of that - but to be fair the "Cattle not pets" approach is still a good one. It prevents the occasional smartass sysadmin who thinks they're above such tedious things as following standard processes - or even just writing things down - from buggering about with a box by hand so that no one else on the team knows what state it's in or why it's doing whatever weirdass thing it's doing the next time they go on leave and you have to look after it.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
