--- title: Worth Reading: Don't Fight the Users' Desire Paths «... description: A short recommendation points readers to Chris Siebenmann's writing about applying the 'desire paths' concept to IT management: rather than fighting how users... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/worth-reading-don-t-fight-the-users-desire-paths-ipspace-net-blog-aejdbw1mi twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Worth Reading: Don't Fight the Users' Desire Paths « ipSpace.net blog | daily.dev og:description: A short recommendation points readers to Chris Siebenmann's writing about applying the 'desire paths' concept to IT management: rather than fighting how users... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/worth-reading-don-t-fight-the-users-desire-paths-ipspace-net-blog-aejdbw1mi og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/aEjdBW1Mi.png og:image:alt: Worth Reading: Don't Fight the Users' Desire Paths « ipSpace.net blog og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Worth Reading: Don't Fight the Users' Desire Paths « ipSpace.net blog **[ipSpace.net Blog](https://daily.dev/sources/ipspace)** · 1 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A short recommendation points readers to Chris Siebenmann's writing about applying the 'desire paths' concept to IT management: rather than fighting how users actually get their work done, administrators should either gently nudge them toward better practices or help them accomplish things their preferred way while minimizing harm. The piece reflects on university sysadmin experience and the wisdom of working with user behavior instead of against it. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Your website is not for you — Websmith Studio](https://daily.dev/posts/your-website-is-not-for-you-websmith-studio-s8pjxzhao) · Hacker News · 84 upvotes · 9 comments - [Blog: Your Users Adapted to the Bug. You Never Saw It](https://daily.dev/posts/blog-your-users-adapted-to-the-bug-you-never-saw-it-fgricay4l) · Wawandco · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Watch people work](https://daily.dev/posts/watch-people-work-yvilubr7r) · swizec.com · 8 upvotes · 3 comments --- Tags: [#sysadmin](https://daily.dev/tags/sysadmin) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/worth-reading-don-t-fight-the-users-desire-paths-ipspace-net-blog-aejdbw1mi) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Worth Reading: Don't Fight the Users' Desire Paths « ipSpace.net blog","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/worth-reading-don-t-fight-the-users-desire-paths-ipspace-net-blog-aejdbw1mi","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/worth-reading-don-t-fight-the-users-desire-paths-ipspace-net-blog-aejdbw1mi"},"datePublished":"2026-10-02T05:46:51.851Z","dateModified":"2026-10-02T05:47:05.482Z","description":"A short recommendation points readers to Chris Siebenmann's writing about applying the 'desire paths' concept to IT management: rather than fighting how users...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--foaA6JGU--/f_auto/v1722860399/public/Placeholder%2004","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--foaA6JGU--/f_auto/v1722860399/public/Placeholder%2004","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"ipSpace.net Blog","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"ipSpace.net Blog","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--xS7E82MT--/f_auto,q_auto/v1786438303/logos/ipspace?_a=BAMAMicg0","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/ipspace"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/worth-reading-don-t-fight-the-users-desire-paths-ipspace-net-blog-aejdbw1mi","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"sysadmin","timeRequired":"PT1M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"ipSpace.net Blog","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/ipspace"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Worth Reading: Don't Fight the Users' Desire Paths « ipSpace.net blog"}]} ```