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

CMC GroupWare

E-Mail

HTTP

Java

Video Streaming

Print Servers

USENET News

MboneDatabase Sync

Gopher

FileServer Links

EDICommerce

VOD

Client/ServerMultimedia

VRML

SNMP

NTP

FTP

Telnet

Slide originally created in 1994

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Why is the Internet a Success?

TCP/IPUUCP

ATM

SMDS

Frame RelaySonnet

SDH

X.25 V.32

Packet Radio

VSAT

V.34

Ethernet

Token Ring

FDDI

ARCnet

HSSI

Fiber Channel

Packet Satellite

WirelessADSL

GSM

Cable

IEEE 1394

Slide originally created in 1994

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The Internet Model

Communication

Collaboration Open Standards

Rough Consensus

Working 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/Planning 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.

App

rova

l

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.

App

rova

l

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

Watch Ask 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 …..