Apr 28th, 2006 |
Once upon a time (when I had more black hair than white), someone told me that everything I ever needed to know about group dynamics can be explained with the number 7, which happens to be the number of digits in our telephone numbers but also the optimal (or is it maximum?) number of simultaneous independent variables that a mere mortal can manage.
In other words, group behaves differently whether it consists of seven individuals, or layers of seven.
As a new comer to the InteropNet/eNet/ShowNet experience (this is only my third InteropNet), I have found it to be an extraordinary event.
This third time around, I actually get to see InteropNet through its natural stages of evolution, from before the Planning Meeting when it was really just six or seven people (Glenn, Val, Brian, etc.), during Planning Meeting (when the group grew to about 14 to 21 people, i.e., two to three times seven), Hot-Stage (five to six times seven) and now pre-show deployment (seven times seven and higher), and eventually to tear down.
My observation is that in every step along the way, the NOC team behaves exactly like a “tribe”, from a small tribe which is akin to a hunting party where every hunter has more or less equal stature, to a small village where there is clear distinction between elders and younglings (otherwise known as ITM’s).
My further observation is that InteropNet is truly a “tribal” event, where decisions are made not by consensus but by consultation and where rules exist and are followed, although much of them are unwritten but yet completely understood.
As a newcomer, I am fascinated by these unspoken tribal customs and practices.
Keep in mind that the NOC team members are engineers like all of us but they are a special breed of engineers. They are engineers whose day job is to support mission-critical networks or if they work for a tool vendor, their day job is to support other engineers whose day job is to support mission-critical networks.
So as much as they are techno-geeks and early adopters of technology (either individually or professionally), they are also highly risk-averse. In fact, in my observation, the NOC team engineers behave very much like nuclear power plant operators in the sense that they recognize and accept that their performance is ultimately measured by things that didn’t happen.
As I walked around and make observation about how things are done around here, I realize that while these guys like to work as a team, they also crave for solitude. These tribal members actually enjoy taking a job, doing it alone and doing it right.
It really makes no difference whether it is a big job or a small job, a visible job or an invisible job, one that will receive praise from the rest of the tribe or one that is completely thankless, one that they are doing for the first time or the hundredth time, or one that results in an end product that must last fifty years or just five days.
It makes no difference. If the job needs to be done, then it will be done right. After all, these are craftsmen who are passionate about honing their craft. You can tell by the amount of care that each NOC team member puts it when they perform seemingly mandate tasks such as making custom length patch cords, gender changing serial cable dongles, or mounting equipment in a rack and numbering fibers between racks.
As one NOC member puts it, “we are who we are when no one is watching”.
And this ninja-like culture is not just a custom; it has elevated itself to a religion (sorry, Padre).
And the religion is called “Best Practice”.
Interestingly, in a normal tribe, Best Practices are also never formalized. Imagine when a young caveman went out to hunt for the first time and as he learned from his elders, he was fascinated by a new tool called the arrows. He was consumed by curiosity and he couldn’t help it but to ask, “Has everyone ever try to shoot this thing pointing the opposite way? It seems to me that it might actually fly better with the feathers first.” The experienced hunter looked down and said, “Anything is possible, son, but this is how it is always done. It is called the Best Practice. All we know is that the last guy who tried it differently didn’t get to come home to talk about it.”
In a nutshell, this is how things are done around here. Experience is passed down, good or bad, from one show to another and from one generation to another. What works will be incorporated and ingrained into the collective tribal culture and becomes Best Practices; and what doesn’t will get buried in that dark corner of Joe’s garage, no tombstone, no nothing, where it shall remain unwritten but completely understood.
In my next Blog, I will document one of the “Best Practice” tribal customs of InteropNet which is the Interop*Spy*Net.
Denny K Miu
Gigamon Systems
Part 1: InteropNet - Tribal Customs and Best Practices
Part 2: History of SpyNet (Son of LAN-Hopper)
Part 3: Interop*Spy*Net
Part 4: SpyNet and Network Physics
Part 5: SpyNet and Internap
Part 6: SpyNet and Neal Allen
