"An After Action Review (AAR) is a structured review or de-brief process for analyzing what happened, why it happened, and how it can be done better, by the participants and those responsible for the project or event" Wikipedia. As an OSS consultant it has been common to move from one OSS project to the next for clients over the years. It is interesting that the knowledge…
Read More »"Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability." Edsger Dijkstra. Regular readers will note my stance on seeking simplicity in OSS. OSS have many moving parts - hardware, software, processes, people, interfaces, etc all have inherent complexity. But put them all together and you have the main reason why so many OSS projects go over time, over budget and/or fail to deliver against initial target objectives - they are just…
Read More »"The shifts of fortune tests the reliability of friends." Marcus T. Cicero. In yesterday's blog we discussed the concept of multi-homing. For some of the reasons discussed, you may not want duplication of data links. However, you may have one or more of your systems in cold-standby mode and want to be able to cut live data feeds across to it quickly in the event of…
Read More »“The greatest ability is dependability.” Robert "Bob" Jones. When it comes to reliability and resiliency of your OSS, the concept of multi-homing is vital. And by multi-homing, I'm not referring to the personal habits of a recent US President. For those who haven't heard of the term, it is the practice of network devices sending management traffic to more than one management node. For example, you…
Read More »“May your adventures bring you closer together, even as they take you far away from home.” Trenton Lee Stewart. During years of working on international project teams I've been lucky enough to have observed some fascinating group dynamics. OSS project teams form an interesting ecosystem from a group dynamic perspective, especially when there is a core project team of 10-20 people with various other occasional resources.…
Read More »"Maverick: I feel the need… Maverick, Goose: …the need for speed!" Lines from the movie Top Gun. Whilst listening to an audio book recently (sorry for the lack of reference, I forget which one) the author posed an interesting insight. Can you remember what type of vehicle Maverick (Tom Cruise) uses when being chased by Kelly McGillis' character Charlie Blackwood in Top Gun? Most who have…
Read More »"Software-defined networking (SDN) is an approach to computer networking which abstracts the hardware of the system, the control plane and the data plane" Wikipedia. SDN is another technology that is revolutionising OSS. It is having a dramatic effect on traditional CSPs, allowing them to move from being network-based Telcos to software-based services companies. It allows CSPs the ability to deliver new services via software rather than…
Read More »"1. I have a great respect for incremental improvement, and I've done that sort of thing in my life, but I've always been attracted to the more revolutionary changes. I don't know why. Because they're harder. They're much more stressful emotionally. And you usually go through a period where everybody tells you that you've completely failed." Steve Jobs. "2. The thing is, continuity of strategic direction…
Read More »"Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning." Benjamin Franklin. ITSM's most oft-used framework, ITIL, is built around a service lifecycle which includes: Service strategy, Service design, Service transition, Service operation and Continual service improvement. There are certainly parallels in OSS. However in my years in OSS, it is the last dot-point that seems to be most commonly overlooked. Unfortunately there…
Read More »"III. Must-Have Implementation Steps Locate your biggest wins. Educate and get buy-in. Map out one process or practice at a time. IV. The Golden Rules for Maximizing ITIL’s Competitive Advantage Use your tools to understand the customer. Understand your overall strategy and your goals as an organization. Ground everything in configuration management. Use ITIL modularly" From "Harnessing the Power of ITIL" by Anthony Orr, John Turner,…
Read More »"As far as income goes, there are three currencies in the world; most people ignore two. The three currencies are time, income and mobility, in descending order of importance. Most people focus exclusively on income." Timothy Ferriss. In yesterday's blog, we discussed how e-business and mobility was impacting ITSM approaches but we didn't discuss much about the drivers of this change. Smartphones and tablets have enabled…
Read More »“I don't know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve.” Albert Schweitzer. As more organisations become enabled by Information Technologies (IT) the field of IT Service Management (ITSM) becomes more pertinent. It's important that ITSM is done well, particularly for e-businesses where the…
Read More »“Do what today others won’t, so tomorrow, you can do what others can’t.” Brian Rogers Loop. There are so many ways to skin a cat, or in our case an OctopOSS. So many ways to configure it or build processes around it to meet the customer's needs. But this is just one of many reasons why an OSS project can stagnate. It was while working with…
Read More »"I decided I was sick of trying to figure out what everybody else wanted, and I should just decide what I want, and be honest, and not spend all my time guessing." Katherine Heigl. There is so much information required to build an OSS and usually not enough time to collect it. Many OSS exponents have discovered the virtues of speculation particularly when it comes to…
Read More »"People who think they know it all are especially annoying to those of us who do." Anonymous. As you build up your knowledge about your particular OSS you will become increasingly important to your team. But over the years I've also learnt that it is more important to promote autonomy in your team-mates rather than being the centre of all knowledge by taking the time to…
Read More »"People do not decide to become extraordinary. They decide to accomplish extraordinary things." Edmund Hillary. As most people know, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay were the first two people to climb Mount Everest, back in 1953. What I hadn't realised until recently was that there was a team of around 400 people that contributed to placing these two men on the top of the world. One…
Read More »"At its most basic, a story begins with a character who wants something, struggles to overcome barriers that stand in the way of achieving it, and moves through a series of actions—the actual story structure—to overcome them." Jack Hart. Does the description above sound like the plot from a New York Times best-seller or does it explain every OctopOSS project you've ever worked on? I wonder whether this is…
Read More »"For the first time in my life, I found my passion. I was spending all my time practising. It took me hours and hours a day to take my skills to the next level." BLACK. The embedded video has nothing to do with OSS, but has a lot to do with sharing a passion. Do you know anyone who has skills with an OSS that can…
Read More »"A huge chunk of the brain power we have sitting on our shoulders is devoted to processing visual images. It's how we communicate. It's how we share information. It defines who we are... All the great theories of the world are not equations, [rather] they are based on simple principles which can be manifested as pictures, as video images." Dr Michio Kaku. As this blog regularly…
Read More »"The word “simple” has become so cliché that I try not to use it anymore, but ultimately the point is that things are pretty easy and simple until you make them hard and complicated. So we’re always trying to keep them as simple and easy as they naturally are. So if we have a big idea, let’s chop that idea in half. Let’s chop it in…
Read More »"Enterprises able to successfully innovate at a breakthrough level are far more likely to dominate and prosper in the new markets they create" From a recent survey conducted by Accenture In the survey discussed above 93% of executive respondents indicated their long-term success relied on innovation. However only one-third felt their organisation were well placed to innovate. This blog has discussed previously what a threat the OTT providers…
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