: : Though I can name off several 'credentialed' network : engineering gurus and the 'bibles' of network engineering, a : recent discussion about the source of network operations : 'best practices' left me speechless, and curious. : : Who is/are the network operations equivalents of people like : Peter Drucker and Jack Welch--people who are looked at not : only has role models for operations success, but as : luminaries in the industry for having established and : educated the masses about best practices? With regards to Peter Drucker... his sagacity lies in a deep understanding of the history of his field and long observance of such (some sixty years!). Jack Welch is hype. I don't think we're in an equivalent place in the history of our field where any-one can, definitively, say, either from long study (Drucker) or manufactured hype (Welch), what works best, or -perhaps more importantly- what underlying misconceptions and mistakes fuel operations on a daily basis : What would be the network operations equivalents to revered : business tomes like "The Practice of Management", "Seven : Habits of Highly Successful People", "The G.E. Way" (and a : variety of others that populate the shelves of your friendly : local executive)? : : Most network-oriented training seems to focus on the : technology, not on operations (and those subtle but ever so : critical differences between knowing how something is : /supposed/ to work and how it /really/ works, and all of the : effort it takes to create a smooth-running operations : engine). There are three distinct possibilities that I sense: It is thought that the basic, already known, principles of engineering and management are a good fit, thus the training assumes this; No one sets out to be 'in operations', but rather drift or fall into the part-- or perhaps have the part fallen unto them... =-), and the training reflects this; The whole is never perceived as greater than the sum of the parts. That is to say, attention is paid to the individual components of a network and the bigger operational picture isn't tended except as a means of managing individual components... : What are the network operations equivalents to business : programs such as Six Sigma? What about something similar to : the various leading institutions of business management, : institutions that study of how networks are operated (and : used), and develop training and methodologies for better : operations practices? Don't know if you're aware: the IETF has two working groups in the Operations and Management Area, that might be tangent to what you're looking for: Benchmarking Methodology and Policy Framework. Might be worth a look, even if not exactly what you're thinking of... Though I've only glanced at them meself. : Pete. : : -- Systems, Networks and Gadgets, done with Artful Intelligence -<>-<_>-<__>-<_>-<>- Policy: ASCII/text attchmnts alway read. PDF maybe read. Others, by necessity, may be ignored. Don't take it personally, it's a time issue.