:
: Though I can name off several 'credentialed' network
: engineering gurus and the 'bibles' of network engineering, a
: recent discussion about the source of network operations
: 'best practices' left me speechless, and curious.
:
: Who is/are the network operations equivalents of people like
: Peter Drucker and Jack Welch--people who are looked at not
: only has role models for operations success, but as
: luminaries in the industry for having established and
: educated the masses about best practices?
With regards to Peter Drucker... his sagacity lies in a deep
understanding of the history of his field and long observance
of such (some sixty years!). Jack Welch is hype. I don't
think we're in an equivalent place in the history of our field
where any-one can, definitively, say, either from long study
(Drucker) or manufactured hype (Welch), what works best, or
-perhaps more importantly- what underlying misconceptions
and mistakes fuel operations on a daily basis
: What would be the network operations equivalents to revered
: business tomes like "The Practice of Management", "Seven
: Habits of Highly Successful People", "The G.E. Way" (and a
: variety of others that populate the shelves of your friendly
: local executive)?
:
: Most network-oriented training seems to focus on the
: technology, not on operations (and those subtle but ever so
: critical differences between knowing how something is
: /supposed/ to work and how it /really/ works, and all of the
: effort it takes to create a smooth-running operations
: engine).
There are three distinct possibilities that I sense:
It is thought that the basic, already known, principles
of engineering and management are a good fit, thus
the training assumes this;
No one sets out to be 'in operations', but rather drift
or fall into the part-- or perhaps have the part fallen
unto them... =-), and the training reflects this;
The whole is never perceived as greater than the sum
of the parts. That is to say, attention is paid to
the individual components of a network and the bigger
operational picture isn't tended except as a means of
managing individual components...
: What are the network operations equivalents to business
: programs such as Six Sigma? What about something similar to
: the various leading institutions of business management,
: institutions that study of how networks are operated (and
: used), and develop training and methodologies for better
: operations practices?
Don't know if you're aware: the IETF has two working groups in
the Operations and Management Area, that might be tangent to
what you're looking for: Benchmarking Methodology and Policy
Framework. Might be worth a look, even if not exactly what
you're thinking of... Though I've only glanced at them meself.
: Pete.
:
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