Key Principles of Successas an Internet Engineer

How to succeed and be one of the “Best you can be.”

Barry Raveendran Greene

bgreene@senki.org

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Our Goal – Learn from your Peers

• “How do you maintain your energy to keep on learning?”

• How do the top Internet engineers in the industry be the top engineering?

• What are some of the key habits that everyone can use to be a better Internet engineer?

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What people think of the Internet …

Outside World

Every machine transparently

connected to every other

machine...

Slide originally created in 1994

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What the Internet really is …

Every Person

Virtually Connected to Each

Other....

Slide originally created in 1994

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Why is the Internet a Success?

TCP/IP

Virtual Private Networks

Intranets

VRML

SNMP

Slide originally created in 1994

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Why is the Internet a Success?

TCP/IP

Cable

IEEE 1394

Slide originally created in 1994

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The Internet Model

Communication

CollaborationOpen

Standards

Rough

ConsensusWorking Code

The Core Values of the InternetFrom the perspective of the IETF

Slide originally created in 1994

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7 Habits of Internet Engineering Success

• Be Disciplined

• Write it down!

• It is OK to be clueless – it is NOT OK to remain clueless - ask for Clue

• RTFM

• Build a Network of People – Invest in that network.

• Connect to all the other NOGs – Read, Watch, Learn, and Ask Questions

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Be Disciplined

Personal Inflection to Success - Getting the Right people on the your Boat and Disciple in everything we do is critical to our success.

Disciplined People Disciplined Thought Disciplined Action

Long before Jim Collins book Good to Great, there was the Internet

Engineering Task Force (IETF) whose processes and procedures are a

module of discipline – yet open to all.

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What is Discipline?

• Discipline, in essence, is consistency of action—consistency with values, consistency with long-term goals, consistency with performance standards, consistency of method, consistency over time.

• By “empirical,” we mean relying upon direct observation, conducting practical experiments, and/or engaging directly with evidence rather than relying upon opinion, whim, conventional wisdom, authority, or untested ideas.

• Empirical requires iterative approach, generating ideas inspired by the data, testing those ideas against the evidence, watching them bend and buckle under the weight of evidence, replacing them with new ideas, revising, testing, revising yet again,until all the concepts squared with the evidence.

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Example of Disciplined People, Thought, & Action

Previous Work

Analysis and

Research

Consultant

Peers

PRD

Product

Requirements

Document (PRD)

• Used to accurately

list all requirements

• Business

Justification and

Impact are included

as needed

• Used by

Engineering/Planni

ng for creating the

SRD

• “Guiding Principles

are included as

needed.

SRD

Solution

Requirement

Document (SRD)

• High Level Design

(HLD) of the

solution based on

the PRD.

• Guiding Principle

and Architectural

requirements are

included.

• Mandatory

requirements are

highlighted.

• Document used

with the PRD for

Project approval.

EAD

Engineering &

Architecture

Document

• Multiple Low Level

Designs (LLD).

EDR

Engineering Design

Rules

• Multiple Low Level

Designs (LLD) that

detailed configuration,

management, and

control of the systems

and solution

A

OSD

Operations & Support

Document

• Details for how the

system is monitored,

maintained, and

troubleshoot.

• All KPIs are listed with

the tools to monitor and

actions to take when

violated.

Appro

val

Approval:

Go – No-Go

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Example of Disciplined People, Thought, & Action

A MOP

Method of Procedure

Document (MOP)

• Detailed procedure

d for deploying the

capability in the

network.

• References all prior

engineering

documents.

• Includes back-out,

safety, and risk

issues.

• Document used to

approve execution

and deployment.

Appro

val

Approval:

Go – No-Go by the

Network Change

Committee

ATP

Acceptance Test

Plan (ATP)

• Detailed testing

and certification

procedures to

approve the site or

installation.

• References all prior

engineering

documents.

• Includes risk for

test.

• Document needed

before go/no-go.

Vendor APT

Implement &

Deploy

The IETF, W3C, IEEE, and

many other “Internet

Standard Groups” have

disciplined processes that

start with writing it down.

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It is OK to be clueless ….

• The customers and the shareholders never ever care who has the answer to a problem …. They just want the problem solved!

• Asking people questions is one of the hardest things for an engineer to do (it does not matter where you are from).

• The Successful most successful engineering talent in the Internet community all ask for clue.

• It is a network of people who build and grow the Internet – people who depend on each other – clueing each other in with their knowledge – in the most powerful collective the in the history of mankind.

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RTFM

• Read the Freaking Manual!

• People pushed hard to get materials open on the Internet.

• IETF, 3GPP (that Internet group), and other groups put all their materials freely on-line.

• Go to the source, read, learn, ask questions.

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Home Work!

• Go to to the IETF Site (http://www.ietf.org/)

• Find the Working Groups

• Sign up to a working group’s mailing list.

• Download the Internet Drafts and Read.

• Read, watch, and observe how the working group operate.

• Ask question privately …..

• Open Standards only work if you – YOU –participate.

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Build You Human Network

• Human Network require investment!

• 20 years ago it was all E-mail, phone calls, chat, lunch, dinner, and interacting with peers at meetings.

• Today, it is E-mail, phone calls, chat, lunch, dinner, and interacting with peers at meetings …. and social media

• But a “contact list” is a first step in “investment.”

• Investment requires service. Answer questions, ask questions, collective action, standards contributions, teaching/sharing with peers (IDNOG)

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Connect to all the other NOGs

• Connect to all the other NOGs – Read, Watch, Learn, and Ask Questions.

• Internet Operations Meeting is about meeting, working, sharing, and collaboration.

• Free, open, and private operational consultation is CRITICAL to the Internet’s success.

• Invest in your NOG! …. Benefit from all the others …..

• Core Principle – Serve your peers who cannot be physically present.

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Process Map for “remote” NOG Viewing

Check out the Agenda

Anything worth

watching Live?

Get the Chat information

See who will be physically there

Set the Alarm

WatchAsk someone to ask

a question!

Wait until a week after the

NOG

Download the Video &

Presentation

Watch and Take Notes

E-mail the speaker

Questions

If needed, ask for a Skype call

You are now “clued in” with the latest information from a peer on the

Internet!

Yes

No

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What’s Next?

• Connect via Linkedin:

id.linkedin.com/in/barryrgreene/

• Ask Questions …..