In 1950, electrical engineer and statistician-turned-manufacturing expert W. Edwards Deming was famously asked to help post-war Japanese leaders rebuild industrial capacity. The results speak for themselves, and by the 1980s his principles of systems thinking were embraced by Western manufacturers, and spread eventually to software in the form of Continous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD).

Viewing a problem, development process, or an automated network as an intersection of systems provides a framework that allows us to see the influence of elements we might consider unrelated, such as organizational hierarchy, or relationships among disparate groups in a company. The whole is truly greater than the sum of its parts, so how do we realize that in practice?

Architecture

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An optimal network follows service and product requirements and is continually improving in response to feedback, be that customer surveys, logs, or telemetry. To hone in on the best design for its next iteration, we’ll examine everything from peering strategy to scalability to provide the solutions and uptime you need within your budget.

Automation

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Effective network automation is a subset of systems thinking and heavily dependent on organizational synergies. We’ll work together to identify where processes and interdepartmental relationships can be improved so that automation and observability are positioned to maximize service quality, value, and employee pride in their work.

Analysis

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Intertwined with architecture and automation is the importance of analysis—of systems and processes as well as costs and revenue. When the system is well understood and optimized, cost savings will eventually follow; likewise, when financial realities are well understood, the organization and its people are empowered to build the optimal network.


Bringing it All Together

The bedrock underlying all of this is communication: all stakeholders, be they upper management or front-line employees, contribute to and thus need a full understanding of key systems. Documentation, education, and presentation appropriate to each role are therefore the ultimate deliverable of this process, allowing you and your team to focus on building, running, and continuously improving the network.