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Turn Jamf Compliance Output into Real Audit Evidence

Most teams use Apple’s macOS Security Compliance Project (mSCP) baselines because they scale and they’re repeatable. Jamf’s tooling makes deployment straightforward and the Extension Attribute (EA) output is a convenient place to capture drift. What you don’t automatically get is the artifact an auditor will accept on a specific date—an actual document you can file that shows which endpoints are failing which items, plus a concise roll-up of failure counts you can act on. Smart Groups answer scope; they don’t produce evidence. This script fills that gap. It reads computer...

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Skills You Never Meant to Learn as a Consultant (and Why They Matter Beyond Consulting)

When you run a consultancy, you think the job is about your expertise—the thing you’ve been hired to do. But very quickly, you realize the role demands a whole set of skills you never set out to master. They sneak in over time, and before you know it, you’ve become fluent in things you once thought you’d avoid. The funny part is, you don’t even notice you’re learning them until you look back and recognize how much your approach has shifted. These are the skills that never appear on your...

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10 Things You Didn't Know You Could Do With Apple Configurator (That Save Mac Admins Hours)

Most of us treat Apple Configurator like a fire extinguisher: break glass, DFU, restore, move on. But it can do a lot more, and when you know the edges, you can turn a bricked morning into a ship-it afternoon. Below are ten things I regularly use (or wish I’d used sooner). 1) Retro-enroll Devices into Apple Business Manager (iOS/iPadOS) If a Mac wasn’t purchased through your ABM-linked reseller, you can still claim it. Adding it via Configurator means you get Automated Device Enrollment (ADE) on next setup, assignment to your...

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What Does It Really Mean to Be “Senior” in Your Job?

I have a lot of friends in the job market right now, and we’ve been having some interesting conversations about a title that comes up again and again: “Senior.” It’s one of those words that carries weight when you first hear it—implying a certain level of mastery, trust, and authority—but the more you look at how it’s used in practice, the more slippery it becomes. Some job postings call for senior-level expertise and years of experience, yet the salary barely clears what you might expect for a mid-level role. Other...

automation macos jamf

The Power of Scripting App Updates Without Deploying Packages

Keeping macOS environments up-to-date in a seamless, efficient, and low-maintenance way has always been a challenge for IT admins. Traditional package deployment workflows can be time-consuming, prone to versioning issues, and require extensive testing and repackaging. But there’s another way—a more elegant, nimble approach: scripting. Scripting app installations and updates allows you to skip the packaging step entirely. Instead, you leverage trusted sources, automate installation logic, and let Jamf do what it does best—run policies and execute scripts. Below are three real-world examples that demonstrate the power of scripting app...

automation macos jamf

Detecting Invalid Characters and Long Paths in OneDrive on macOS

Microsoft OneDrive is widely used for syncing documents across devices, but on macOS, it can silently fail to sync certain files if they violate Windows filesystem rules — like overly long paths or invalid characters. This creates frustrating experiences for end users who don’t know why files aren’t syncing. To address this issue, I created a script — check_onedrive_paths.zsh — which detects common pathing issues and logs them to a file for JAMF or local review. 🔍 What the Script Does This Zsh-based script is designed to scan a user’s...