From Indispensable to Overlooked and Back: Making OSS Dragon Slayers Valuable Again
Many OSS veterans, the people who built the OSS of today, are no longer being offered full-time roles. Clients often assume they have become obsolete or are simply too expensive. However, these same experts are still solving the toughest OSS problems, drawing on decades of hard-earned experience. They are just not doing it from inside […]
The Buyer-Seller Chasm Series Summary
This article provides a summary of our Buyer-Seller Chasm series of articles, where we start with the guiding principle that: The buyers (carriers) desperately need better tools to transform their operations. The sellers (vendors) already have better tools, which they desperately want to sell. The problem worth solving lies in the extraordinary amount of time, […]
What if the Real Legacy in OSS isn’t Code – But Culture?
Everyone’s chasing a better OSS, which for most means planning the next OSS platform migration. Yet we rarely ask the key questions that guarantees long-term success: “When was the last time someone in your team really challenged the way things are done?” “Does everyone on your team feel empowered / safe to pose radical new […]
Digital Threads are Re-inventing the Modern TowerCo: OSS, Drones, 3D Models and GTM Innovation
Tower sites / assets have long been seen as fixed infrastructure. Passive, static, silent. But a new wave of tools and novel go-to-market (GTM) models are rewriting the rulebook. The smartest TowerCos no longer manage their tower assets from CAD drawings, spreadsheets and manpower alone. They’re turning each site into an edge utility hub. Dynamic, […]
A Reality Check: Take this Self-Assessment Survey to Identify the Maturity of Your OSS/BSS
Earlier this week, I sat down with the intention of writing another blog article, this time about the burning platform that is faced by many within the telco industry. But as I was writing it, it morphed a few times and eventually turned into an automated self-assessment report of all things (you can complete the […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
The Future of OSS is Play: Learning from My Journey of 85+ hour Weeks (in a State of Flow)
During my first forays into OSS, over a period of 6+ years, I averaged 85 hours a week whilst being paid for a 40 hour week – and loved every minute of it! It wasn’t because I had to, but because I wanted to – all because OSS felt like play. Time was meaningless as […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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). […]
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) […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]