Minimise the tentacles on the OctopOSS. Keep it simple
When I was at uni, there was a stall that had graffiti on the wall that was quite similar to the diagram above – words to the effect of “Arts degree – please take one.” It showed the disdain that some students obviously felt for the worth of an arts degree. Back then, this sentiment […]
“Many drops make a bucket, many buckets make a pond, many ponds make a lake, and many lakes make an ocean.” Percy Ross. One of the big OSS challenges for vendors and customers alike is version management. Let’s say Customer X installs version 1.5.3 of Vendor Y’s exciting new resource management software. This software is […]
“…numbers from comScore showing that while 60 percent of retail browsing happens on mobile devices, those devices only account for 15 percent of dollars spent. “The experiences on mobile haven’t caught up with the consumer demand,” he said. “The consumer is ready to do commerce on mobile.”” Anthony Ha here on TechCrunch. These fascinating stats […]
“It is change, continuing change, inevitable change, that is the dominant factor in society today. No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be.” Isaac Asimov. Last week I brought some of Tom Nolle’s ideas to your attention […]
“All the scientist creates in a fact is the language in which he enunciates it. If he predicts a fact, he will employ this language, and for all those who can speak and understand it, his prediction is free from ambiguity..” Henri Poincaré. As an OSS consultant, I succeed or fail partly on my ability […]
“If I don’t understand you, it’s your fault. This has to be the most basic, fundamental principle of a good software architect (well, of any engineer), but most of the architects I’ve met so far, in many companies, don’t seem to believe in it. They don’t understand that the job of a software architect is […]
“The challenge is that complexity is beguiling. Clever tricks and hacks can add to a company’s story and the benefit vs complexity trade off for each one can be well worth it. The problem comes over time when new tricks are added to the old ones to keep the story fresh. The complexity builds up […]
“Much better to avoid complexity altogether, or rather only accept it when the benefit vs complexity trade off is hugely compelling. Hence I say it’s best to maintain an irrational bias against complexity and keep it simple. This is a lesson I’ve learnt before and now I’m learning again. I’m hoping that writing it down […]
“If it’s small and reversible then it’s an experiment. If not, it’s a commitment.” Author unknown but revered. With our traditional, monolithic OSS there don’t tend to be many changes that are small and reversible unless you are controlling the code and its development. We always seem to do things on a grand scale! We […]
“My other observation is that in most cases one side of the [supply and demand] marketplace comes much more easily than the other. On Lexoo supply comes more easily whereas on Appear Here, a marketplace for short term lets on the High Street demand is the easier side. The trick then is to build the […]
“This Network Intent Composition project will enable the controller to manage and direct network services and network resources based on describing the “Intent” for network behaviors and network policies. Intents are described to the controller through a new NorthBound Interface, which provides generalized and abstracted policy semantics instead of Openflow-like flow rules. The Intent based […]
“…the more data you cross-link into a chain, the more likely you are to have broken chains.” The diagram above provides a visual perspective on yesterday’s blog. Circuit Level 1 shows the minimum data that allows the service activation to occur (although it relies on all of the infrastructure to be set up prior). The […]
“Have no fear of perfection – you’ll never reach it.” Salvador Dali. The heading for today’s blog sounds ridiculous doesn’t it? How could the pursuit of perfection be detrimental to my customers (and many organisations in OSS that have not been my customers yet)? It’s not so much the pursuit of perfection, but the expectation […]
“What I’m suggesting is that we define services in a series of hierarchical modeling steps, with each step based on an intent model that offers a from-the-consumer-side abstraction of the service/feature being defined. For network services and features, we could assume the model had a standard structure, which defined FUNCTIONAL-PROPERTIES for the model, and INTERFACES […]
When it comes to the industry of CSP (Communication Service Provision), success has always followed the organisations that enabled small business (and residential, corporate, government, etc too for that matter) to harness the power of the network effect. The invention of telephony, followed shortly thereafter by telephone networks, enabled telcos to ride the network effect […]
I’m delighted to announce the arrival of PAOSS’s latest publication, an eBook entitled, “OSS Masterclasses – Insights from Thought-Leaders in Operational Support Systems (OSS).” You can grab it via the link above or by clicking on the image below-right. SYNOPSIS: In creating content here on PassionateAboutOSS.com, I spend a great deal of time writing about […]
“Complicated isn’t clever. It just looks clever to stupid people.” Dave Trott. Regular readers will have noticed how often l refer to OSS being complicated, too complicated. So if Dave Trott is right, and I do think he might be onto something, then OSS isn’t as clever as l might try to persuade you. I […]
“An awful lot of successful technology companies ended up being in a slightly different market than they started out in. Microsoft started with programming tools, but came out with an operating system. Oracle started doing contracts for the CIA. AOL started out as an online video gaming network.” Marc Andreessen. There’s a reason tech companies […]
“I’m sure I learned a great deal at University, and I can probably even recall an equation or two, but I will never forget Professor Collins’ 3 Principles of Engineering: 1. F = ma (The take-away is this: you can’t ignore physics) 2. You can’t push on a rope (You can’t ignore the reality of […]
“In the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too) those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.” Charles Darwin. An interesting thing happened when looking up the quote for this blog. The quote I was going to use was never actually spoken/written by Charles Darwin, even though it is perhaps the quote […]
