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Beyond the Prompt: Training OSS Masters When AI Takes over the Basics

“In vain do we build the city if we do not first build the man.” Edwin Markham AI will surely run the OSS cities of the future. AI may even build the OSS cities of the future. What can we do now to build the OSS masters of the future? . We’re already witnessing the dawn of an AI-infused era in OSS. From fault-fix to network…

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13/05/2025 No Comments

Jeff Bezos Designs for What Won’t Change: 7 Enduring Truths for OSS / BSS and Telco

Forget what’s trending in telecom. The future of telecom isn’t about what changes. It’s about what never will. It’s not about desperately trying to keep up with all the fads or buzzwords. It’s about delivering the things your customers will never stop expecting. Why Jeff Bezos Designs Platforms for Stability, Not Speed Jeff Bezos famously said at AWS that instead of obsessing over what will change…

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09/05/2025 No Comments

Avoiding the Dead Zone: The OSS Transformation Accelerator that is Almost Always Overlooked

Most OSS programs stall before they even start, waiting on the longest pole in the tent - production infrastructure - to become available for the first OSS software builds. This invariably involves waiting on solution designs, procurement, approvals, integrations and more. But what if there were a faster way? There's one step that we use on almost all transformations, one that’s too often overlooked, yet gives…

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06/05/2025 No Comments

Subtracting the Suck: An OSS Product Roadmap

Making your OSS easy to use isn't about adding more "easyness" - it's about subtracting what sucks. "To make your stuff "easier to use" you don't make it "easier." You look at all the things that make it hard, then remove them one by one. Easy isn't something you add. It's what's left over after everything that sucks is removed." Alex Hormozi. "Easy to use" is…

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22/04/2025 No Comments

Field Notes from a Network Exorcist: How to Curse-Proof Your Network

The call came in at 5:43am. “The routers are acting up again down at 1313 Packetloss Lane” the night supervisor whispered, as if afraid the devices might hear her. “It’s... flickering. The network’s hanging in there, but people keep reporting ghost pings and strange device behaviour.” This is the bane of my existence - another cursed asset. I grabbed the essentials: laptop, EM Packet Field Meter…

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03/04/2025 No Comments

Why Telcos desperately need an 8th Layer in the OSI Model

Telco appears to be an increasingly tough industry. Demand for connectivity continues to soar, yet profitability and differentiation are becoming ever more difficult to achieve. The traditional telco playbook - built on infrastructure, scale, and one-size-fits-all services - is collapsing under the weight of commoditisation and digital disruption. Telco services have never been more essential, but telco business models have never been more broken. What if…

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01/04/2025 No Comments

Am I turning into the angry old guy who shakes his fist at the cloud(s)?

I know a guy. One of my great friends actually. We've known each other since kindergarten - back when we were five years old. He loves listening to the radio and watching old videos. He yearns for the old days - the simpler days, the easier days, the less tech-advanced days. I've been finding myself looking at the constant stream of new content coming out of…

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20/03/2025 No Comments

Is your OSS a thermometer or thermostat? 10 Critical Questions to find out

Most OSS platforms monitor, but only the best ones take action. Is yours a thermometer or a thermostat?  Does your OSS only report the temperature, or can it actually help change your environment? Do you think your OSS is doing enough? It could be missing the crucial capabilities that power future-ready networks. Below we provide you with 10 questions to help you uncover the truth about…

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17/03/2025 No Comments

PAOSS Podcast Ep020 – Turning AI from Buzzword to an Implementation Plan with Simon Wilson

  We love doing The Passionate About OSS Podcast, but it's been a loooong time between episodes. Too long. We love the conversations, but the post-processing takes around 8-10 hours depending on the episode. Unfortunately (or fortunately), we've been so busy with client work over the last few years that the podcast has taken a back seat. But we've decided the show MUST go on and…

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13/03/2025 No Comments

Why small tweaks won’t get your OSS into orbit: 4 lessons from rocket scientists

After working with countless OSS product teams over the years, we’ve noticed one universal truth: they’re all overloaded by huge backlogs of feature requests. But when we saw this image of SpaceX’s Raptor engine evolution, it highlighted a vital lesson - one that has the potential to help guide how OSS development teams prioritise their work. However, we'll also provide you with a really interesting twist…

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10/03/2025 No Comments

The two strongest customer acquisition techniques used by OSS vendors today are in serious decline. How to respond?

Yesterday marked a an exciting milestone for the PAOSS business. We made our very first commission payment to an affiliate whose introduction led to a payment arriving in our account (for providing our services). This occasion is far more than a mere financial transaction; it symbolises a significant step in our journey to strengthen our network of partners and advocates. Don't worry, this article isn't just…

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07/03/2025 No Comments

What got your OSS there will keep your OSS there… Unless…

Your OSS is either a catalyst for innovation or a roadblock to progress for your business. The same strategies that built your OSS might now be the reason it’s slowing you down. If your OSS was built for yesterday’s challenges, the question is - will it be ready for tomorrow’s opportunities? Is it time to rethink your approach? Do you know where to start? We recently…

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04/03/2025 No Comments

For 50 years, we’ve been building better calculators… and OSS. Now it all changes!

For decades, OSS has followed the same pattern: design, then keep adding lots more "baked-in" capabilities into a complex OSS UI, process inputs, generate outputs. At incredible scale. We made them faster, (somewhat) more automated, and vastly more scalable. But we never made them think. Until now... If... (we'll come back to the if shortly). But first, I'd like to share a concept from Greg Isenberg…

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27/02/2025 No Comments

One Critical Step is Almost Always Overlooked by OSS Transformation Teams. And it’s the One that could Prevent Obsolescence

What if your OSS transformation is already outdated before your project even begins and you don't even know it yet? There's one overlooked step that separates forward-thinking OSS teams from those stuck in the past. It's a step that, if not implemented, leaves teams destined to introduce insignificant, incremental changes to their OSS (at best) in the future rather than being truly transformational. For some customers,…

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25/02/2025 No Comments

Telcos Missed the Cloud Boom – 5 Steps to Ensure They Don’t Miss the AI Wave

In 2010, Cloud was a $24 Billion market. Today, it’s $600 Billion. AI is guaranteed to be even bigger. The AI infrastructure boom is building—and telcos must decide if they’re buyers or sellers. Cloud giants built their fortunes by leveraging infrastructure that telcos helped create. Yet, telcos saw only a fraction of the profits. Now, AI is set to transform industries on a scale even larger…

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20/02/2025 No Comments

Starting your own OSS Company? Is there an Alternative to the Startup Path?

Most entrepreneurs are wired to build from scratch. The idea of founding something original, of bringing a vision to life from the ground up, is deeply embedded in startup culture. But what if this isn't the smartest way to scratch your entrepreneurial OSS-builder itch? The obsession with starting anew often overlooks a powerful alternative: acquiring an existing business that has already survived the grind phase. When…

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18/02/2025 No Comments

What Alfred Hitchcock knew about OSS that almost all OSS Vendors are oblivious to

Alfred Hitchcock is known as one of the greatest storytellers in the history of cinema. He's famous for movies such as Psycho, Vertigo, Rear Window and many others. What's far less well known is that he very successfully employed a two-script method, which interestingly, has the potential to be applied to the OSS industry. The OSS industry is notorious for its buyer/seller chasm - a disconnect…

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13/02/2025 No Comments

Finding Your Best-fit OSS/BSS: The Car Yard Approach to Vendor Selection

A good friend and OSS/BSS collaborator, Raman, recently asked me, "Wish they made it (buying OSS/BSS solutions) as simple as buying cars. If I have a budget of $50K for my family car to take me from Point A to Point B, I won’t be talking to luxury German brands, only looking at some pragmatic options. Did I just give you an idea for your next…

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04/02/2025 No Comments

Our OSS/BSS Interface Specification Template is Ready to Download

FWIW, we've just uploaded our OSS/BSS Interface Specification Template onto the Passionate About OSS download page, which includes lots of worked examples. You can grab it here and start updating for your OSS/BSS interfaces: https://passionateaboutoss.com/product/oss-bss-interface-specification-template We'd love to hear your comments if you have other suggestions for what else should be included.

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31/01/2025 No Comments