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An OSS paradox: The split personality of being an OSS architect and writer

An interesting paradox struck me just recently. Having written nearly 2,750 articles here on this blog, I can probably lay claim to being a writer. Having done well over 50 OSS-related projects since the first one in 2000, I can probably also claim to be an OSS architect and consultant (although impostor syndrome does make that claim feel less warranted). The paradox lies in the distinct…

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06/08/2024 No Comments

Partnership / Investment – A Strategic Opportunity for a Telco M&A Deal

Many of you will have already seen our Blue Book OSS/BSS Vendor Directory, which provides a view into the 500+ solutions that are available on the market. It's been a real labour-of-love project, draining lots and lots of time and resources to allow us to keep shining a light on the many outstanding suppliers / products in the OSS/BSS space. From a financial perspective, this project…

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23/07/2024 No Comments

Can OSS manage comms networks, data centres and renewable energy sources?

Have you noticed that just a few people are writing about AI lately? No? None? Never seen an article about AI? Almost every article I read these days has strong undertones (or overtones) about AI. It's almost as impossible to miss as when Sam Altman was abruptly ousted from his position by OpenAI's board of directors in late 2023. AI was, and is, everywhere! If everyone…

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17/07/2024 No Comments

MacGyvering Your OSS Budget: A Contrarian Approach to Solving an OSS Cost Conundrum

There are many reasons why it's hard to get an OSS transformation project off the ground. One of those reasons, a big one, is the catch-22 situation that arises when setting the budget for a project. How much does an OSS cost? How long is a piece of string? Some carriers, especially the smaller telcos that don't embark on OSS transformations very often, don’t know how…

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08/07/2024 No Comments

The Olympians of OSS: Unveiling the key attributes of our most elite OSSletes

Athletes from around the globe will soon be descending on Paris to compete for Olympic medals in a multitude of events. Olympic champions will be determined through a variety of performance attributes - skill, strength, endurance, speed and much more - with different attributes required for any given event. That made me wonder - What are the performance attributes of the best OSSletes in the world?…

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04/07/2024 No Comments

From Telco to HellCo to HellNoCo

Late last week we published an article, "From Telco to HellCo: I’m the CEO of a large telco. I want to destroy it as fast as I can." Based on all the feedback, you could say that it seemed to resonate! Using Charlie Munger's Inversion Technique, we suggested 21 ways to kill off a large telco quick-smart! However, as I was writing the 21 kill-shots, I…

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02/07/2024 No Comments

From Telco to Hellco: I’m the CEO of a large telco. I want to destroy it as fast as I can

Many of the telco industry's fittest and finest have just returned from a week in Copenhagen at TM Forum's flagship event, DTW24. Iain Morris of Light Reading suggests in an article that Copenhagen is an apt location for the event because many industry representatives are "in little mermaid land." The tone of his article is urgent and critical, rightly highlighting the severe challenges faced by the…

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27/06/2024 No Comments

How to plan the resources and budget needed for an OSS transformation project

OSS Transformation Resourcing Questions Have you ever had to wrestle with the conundrum of organisational change when embarking on a major OSS transformation? How many people will I need? What tasks will they do? What skills will they require? Who are the best people to get involved in the transformation? How much budget needs to be assigned? These are all questions I get asked on a…

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25/06/2024 No Comments

Our limitations as OSS match-makers

Are you looking for a role in OSS? Or are you looking for someone with skills in OSS to help fill an OSS role or on an upcoming project? At Passionate About OSS, we get asked about both sides of this equation on a regular basis. We regularly find ourselves trying to help as match-makers, albeit on a best-effort and pro-bono basis. To help with this…

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19/06/2024 No Comments

The Critical Importance of UI/UX/CX Optimisation in OSS/BSS Solutions

In the highly competitive domain of Operational Support Systems (OSS) and Business Support Systems (BSS), standing out isn't just about offering a comprehensive set of features. It's about delivering an exceptional user interface (UI), user experience (UX), and customer experience (CX). Despite this, it seems that the prioritisation of UI / UX / CX is appreciably overlooked by the OSS/BSS industry. As a result, I'd like…

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18/06/2024 No Comments

Can LLMs help us to reimagine what the OSS of the future looks like?

I love blogs. One of the amazing things about them is that it allows you to hear the wisdom of exceptional individuals who you'd otherwise never have access to or ever have the chance to meet. They're the best mentors you never had. One example of that was in last week's post from David Heinemeier Hansson about triggering people to run A/B tests in their own…

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12/06/2024 No Comments

Monthly OSS / Telco In-Person Meetup

Passionate about OSS and Telco - Locals Lunch Held at Noon on the Second Friday of Each Month. Held at the Golden Hills Brewery - 25 Station St, Diamond Creek VIC  (see map below) The doors open at noon. Join us for an informal meetup called "Passionate about OSS and Telco - Locals Lunch," held at noon on the second Friday of each month. This event brings…

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10/06/2024 No Comments

Steve Jobs Said 1 Habit Separates the Doers From the Dreamers

This article by Jeff Haden in Inc Magazine, "30 Years Ago, Steve Jobs Said 1 Habit Separates the Doers From the Dreamers," has made me re-think the way I work, but also reconsider the way the OSS / telco industry works. "One of my least favorite things to do is ask for help. Not only do I not like to ask, but I take a somewhat…

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29/05/2024 No Comments

What types of training does the OSS / telco industry need? What do you need?

I’d love to get your perspective on something. In recent times, quite a few people have reached out to suggest that PAOSS should create a comprehensive OSS/BSS training programme because there’s nothing really suited to their needs available on the market today. A couple of these people have suggested that the TM Forum courses are the best, but (rightly) focus on TM Forum assets like ODA,…

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23/05/2024 No Comments

Listening to the Customer: How can we create more value for you?

We've just started an exciting new project in the last couple of weeks and have had some great workshops with the client's exec & project teams. This client has an ambitious target of multiplying their revenues several-fold over the next few years. The systems transformation we're planning will be a fundamental building block to help with achieving those goals. So much so that it's probably impossible…

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15/05/2024 No Comments

Network Operations Ninja Academy (NONA) of the Future

We were honoured to be guests on the Zero-Touch Telecom (ZTT) show last week. The discussion mainly revolved around a highly problematic skills gap that’s likely to widen between network masters and apprentices once we introduce significant automation via tools such as AIOps and the like. In response, Michael P. asked a great question, "With the shift towards automation, what are some innovative ways we can cultivate…

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06/05/2024 No Comments

Sharing a chat from the Zero-Touch Telecom show

Are you as fascinated with automation, AIOps, zero-touch networking, autonomous networking and the like? If so, you might like to listen in on a chat I had with Geoff Hollingworth of Rakuten Symphony on the "Zero-Touch Telecom Show" In it, we talked about some of the concepts from recent content here on PAOSS including: The 12 dilemmas we face on the journey to zero-touch operations A…

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03/05/2024 No Comments

12 dilemmas that we face on the journey to zero-touch operations

There's a common misnomer that AIOps and Network Automation solutions are just stood up and a bunch of people are stood down. That is, as soon as the tools become operational, the network operator can start reducing head-count. Project sponsors pray for it (to justify their business cases), network operations staff fear it (for the impact it could have on their careers). However, the reality is…

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30/04/2024 2 Comments

9 rainmaker techniques that help to deliver OSS/BSS transformations

If you're a technologist (eg enterprise architect, developer, BA, tech PM, CTO, etc) who has been tasked with implementing significant technological and business transformation in a company accustomed to stasis or incremental changes, effective persuasion is crucial. We've spoken previously about the importance of rainmakers, how they're the real heroes behind OSS-led transformations. As described in the article link above, my perspective on rainmakers has drastically…

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23/04/2024 1 Comment

Future Scenario Planning: The “Open Tech Frontiers” Scenario (part 4)

We've embarked on a journey of trying to plan for the future of OSS/BSS, not by predicting the future, but by seeking ways to be ready for possible future situations by using Peter Schwartz's scenario planning technique. Using this technique, we've identified four possible future scenarios for telco based on two high-impact variables (tech growth and regulatory control) as well as high-impact certainties (geopolitical influence and…

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22/04/2024 No Comments