Jamf management not being well received...

[hanjitren]

The long version:

Previously unmanaged Mac user population at my org. Spent the last 4 months aggressively chasing the users to get their devices enrolled and setup with management. This was a battle in itself. Many Mac users struggling with the the fact that these are company owned devices and not personal computers. This isn't helped by the fact that Mac computers are about 5% of the organizations total computer inventory, so these users feel some kind of prestige feeling about having a Mac.

Had maybe 1 month of peace after completion before it got out of hand. Users are blaming Jamf for every single thing that goes wrong. Printer offline? Must be that Jamf thing you installed. Outlook crashed? Jamf. Network slow? jamf. Spilled coffee on the keyboard? Probably Jamfs fault. People's managers are complaining about the false perception of Jamfs impact and now the rumor has spread.

The only people that recognize the nessecatiy for Jamf are the IT Security team and my manager. However, the only one that knows anything about using Jamf or supporting macOS devices is me (and I'm no expert, I'm self taught out of necessity and all you know that Apple doesn't make it easy).

This is burning me out, ruining my reputation within the organization and totally killed all motivation and interest in macOS device management.

[mhasman]

• Hm... I would do few surveys been sent to Mac users in organization; make it like user experience questionnaire but mostly explaining them MDM responsibility and all goods it brings to Mac platform; send back survey results with additional comments, suggestions. It might help your organization users feel better on Macs as well as you better see their point and needs. Also, maybe some weekly digest emails informing Mac users what was done to improve Mac platform, applications stability, security, some solutions been deployed with Jamf Pro, something new you put to Self Service, etc. Additional communication would make you and your Mac team look better affront of your company Mac community, colleagues and management. 
  
  And... there are always some people complaining, some "not-good-in-IT" colleagues, so, IMO better do not take it personally, do not let it breaking your professional growing. Stay positive, enjoy opportunities working with best computer platform and best Apple MDM :) Happy holidays!

[pbenware1]

Agree w/ @mhasman.

We started rolling Jamf about 7 or 8 years ago to a very skeptical community.  Along with "this broke, must have been that Jamf thing", we also had the "big-brother is watching me" effect.  At that time, management said make it "opt in", which was not helpful.  We spent a lot of person-hours with communications via web & email, surveys, brown-bag demos, one-to-one demos with faculty, etc, including using my own computer as a demo to show them that Jamf was not the boogeyman that they thought it was.  That eventually got us to around 60% enrollment.  Then we had a security incident;  from that we were able to capture inventory and address all the enrolled devices immediately, which both made management and the ones who had opted in happy and the ones that had opted out very unhappy because we had to make changes that we couldn't deploy via policy, requiring a visit from field support.

Management finally agreed that systems management was not a choice, so we are now 90% or higher enrollment (We still have older devices that can't be replaced and devices performing specific functions that we have to pay special attention to).  We still have detractors but now we have organizational policy and support from management so we have far fewer detractors than we had and we have LOTS of experience and answers to just about every question they ask.

[AJPinto]

When we rolled out JAMF some 6 years ago we had much the same experience. Many of our users migrated from Windows to macOS prior to JAMF to get away from device management. When Macs start getting managed users complain a LOT. As you are seeing everything is JAMFs fault. My solution was to point out corporate standards and walk away. There is no sense in having a conversation where there are no options.  If you don't like the standards, go back to Windows or there is the door. The more of a sympathetic ear you give the complaining users the longer they will complain. They usually stop complaining when they realize it wont change anything. Give it time and the users will forget the name JAMF and device management will be a normal way of life.

Am I a jerk? Yes. However, I have been an admin way too long to be bothered by people not liking what I am being told to do. It may be a good idea to remind them you are just doing what you are told. Its harder to argue with the ivory tower than it is to argue with you. Senior leadership cares about data security (ie preventing data breaches which cost money) much more than they care about the prattling of some random user.

Honestly all you need in your pocket is IT and Security. Your reputation with all the random business units really is not that important unless you are wanting to leave IT/Security for something like being a sales person. We as device admins are here to manage devices, not keep users happy. Accepting users will be irritated and learning to not be bothered by it goes a long way.