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? 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). 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? Pete.