This is very true. I stand up a server every now and then and just define the setup as a single-file Ansible playbook— pretty much no matter what, it'll be some combination of packages to install, users to create, config files to modify, etc. Why write it down when I can just define it as code and check it in somewhere?
But then the IT department comes along and hates it; they make a wiki page for each server with a list of instructions for what was done. Their approach is more flexible, as not every tool/step can be easily or robustly automated, and if you can just screenshot the config webpage and paste it into your wiki, that might be just as good as (and a lot faster than) spending an hour trying to bypass that step.
Plus, their approach assumes aggressive use of VM-level tools. Where I'm like "oh, I need N build slaves? Let me add them to my inventory file and re-run", whereas they're like "N build slaves? Sure, I'll set up the first one manually and the clone the machine for the others."
I know there are real actual advantages to version controlled configuration, but there is something pragmatic about just doing the thing and keeping human-readable notes as you do it.
But then the IT department comes along and hates it; they make a wiki page for each server with a list of instructions for what was done. Their approach is more flexible, as not every tool/step can be easily or robustly automated, and if you can just screenshot the config webpage and paste it into your wiki, that might be just as good as (and a lot faster than) spending an hour trying to bypass that step.
Plus, their approach assumes aggressive use of VM-level tools. Where I'm like "oh, I need N build slaves? Let me add them to my inventory file and re-run", whereas they're like "N build slaves? Sure, I'll set up the first one manually and the clone the machine for the others."
I know there are real actual advantages to version controlled configuration, but there is something pragmatic about just doing the thing and keeping human-readable notes as you do it.