The Cloud Gambit

At Network Automation Forum's #AutoCon2, Alkira, Inc.'s William Collins took on building the business case for automation using informal channels. That is, the human element of bringing a network automation program to life. In a big enterprise, William pointed out that it's hard to have an impact. Somehow, bad ideas get implemented. Engineering voices don't get heard. But he got past these challenges. How? Extending the OSI model to layer 8 (the humans). William describes L8 as having... - A protocol: organizational politics. - Interfaces: cross-team interactions. - Encapsulation: packaging ideas for different audiences. - Addressing Schemes: knowing who to talk to. With this perspective, William suggested that we need to build organizational influence. How? Start by mapping the org chart. Then figure out who the right person is to talk to for specific issues. For instance, under the office of the CIO, there’s likely a shared services organization. Parse that org. How do decisions get made? What is the power structure? Who has what level of autonomy? William’s point is that understanding how the humans are organized should inform how you interact with the organization. For instance, William says that getting network automation on a VP’s roadmap makes it real. But what if you still can’t get traction? Then ally yourself with another group. Such as? The cloud team. You can make the cloud team an ally because they don’t want to wait for antiquated netops to get stuff done. They want networking to be as agile as they are. They can deliver services more quickly if networking isn’t slowing things down. The alliance can be in the form of escalating education. Educate your cloud peers on the problems netops faces without automation. Then the management layer. Then the director layer, etc. When the business understands the problem, they are more likely to prioritize a solution. Yet the final challenge with getting the organization on your side is communicating effectively. Managers and accountants don’t understand VLANs and VRFs and Python. They understand charts and spreadsheets and budgets. How do you explain a technical need using business data points? William shared an example. It starts with data gathering. William showed a data chart contrasting the percentage of changes made using automation for the cloud, network, and security teams. The data is not enough, however. You need to build a compelling story narrative around the data. What is this data telling us? How should the business interpret this data? One framing is to see a failure the business is aware of as an opportunity. Why did this network outage happen? A human failure. How do we fix it? Reduce reliance on humans to execute a change by using network automation instead. Wrapping it up, William also mentioned his podcast, The Cloud Gambit. Subscribe! https://lnkd.in/gKm77Bz4

?? New Episode Alert! ?? Emily Freeman is a bestselling author, prolific speaker, and influencer across AI, DevOps, and Cloud Engineering. Prior to co-founding freeman + forrest, Emily led Developer Relations and Product Marketing at AWS and Microsoft. In this conversation, we explore the intersection of authenticity and sponsorship, discuss the changing dynamics of social media platforms, and unpack what it truly takes to build a meaningful presence in the tech community. Stream Now ?? https://lnkd.in/gJqhgGeX William Collins Eyvonne Sharp Forrest Brazeal #CloudComputing #ArtificialIntelligence #Entrepreneur #Marketing #TechMarketing #ProductMarketing #InfluencerMarketing #Podcast #TheCloudGambit #Startup #Tech

?? Scared of AI? Zoom Out! John Capobianco Eyvonne Sharp #AIProductivity #TimeManagement #EfficiencyTools #NewTech #WorkSmart #LifeHacks #Innovation #PersonalGrowth #TechForGood #EmbraceChange

?? Why do good ideas win over bad ideas? #Advocacy #Storytelling #WorkplaceSkills #EffectiveCommunication #Empowerment #BusinessIdeas #Leadership #ProfessionalDevelopment #DataDriven #IdeaPresentation

??? New Episode: Storms, Infrastructure, Electrical Demand, and Time Management Collide! William Collins and Eyvonne Sharp are back this week with a conversation around current events. We Discuss: ?? Recent hurricane impacts on critical infrastructure ?? The growing fragility of our electrical grid ?? Rising power demands from emerging tech ?? Practical time management strategies for tech professionals ?? Stream Now: https://lnkd.in/ecs8Q4en #Infrastructure #CloudComputing #TechLeadership #WorkLifeBalance #Tech #Podcast #TheCloudGambit #TimeManagement #NuclearEnergy

?? A Liquid Cooling Paradox with Pete Lumbis - When the cooling system is TOO GOOD! William Collins Eyvonne Sharp #ArtificialIntelligence #MachineLearning #DataCenter #NetworkEngineer #WaterCooling #Podcast #PodcastClips #CloudComputing #NVIDIA

?? New Episode ?? Join us as we explore the world of AI hardware and data center technologies with Pete Lumbis, Principal Engineer at NVIDIA. We dive into: ?? The resurgence of hardware ?? Ethernet and the future of connectivity ?? Water cooling high-performance compute ?? Power consumption and energy demands Whether you're a tech enthusiast, an AI professional, or just curious about the future of computing, this episode is packed with insights you won't want to miss! ?? Stream Now: https://lnkd.in/ecs8Q4en William Collins Eyvonne Sharp #ArtificialIntelligence #MachineLearning #AIHardware #DataCenter #TechInnovation #NVIDIA #CloudComputing #TheCloudGambit #Podcast #Technology #LLM

?? Bringing #AIOps into Frame What is #AI good at? John Capobianco talks through how Selector is using #MachineLearning to tackle today's operational challenges. Eyvonne Sharp William Collins #ArtificialIntelligence #DataCenter #RootCauseAnalysis #ITOps #AIinIT #NetworkComplexity #NetworkOperations #NetworkEngineer #CloudComputing #Podcast

??? New Episode on Deck! ?? John Capobianco, Product Marketing Evangelist at Selector is back! How is #ArtificialIntelligence reshaping our industry? What impact will it have on our careers? If John can't get you excited about #AI and #Automation, I don't know what can ?? William Collins and Eyvonne Sharp also take time with John to reflect on the passing of Nicholas Russo and honor his legacy. ???? ????????: ?? AI's impact on engineering trades ?? Navigating the transition to AI-driven solutions ?? Real-world applications of automation ?? John's fantastic new book ?? Listen now: https://lnkd.in/ecs8Q4en #Career #CareerGrowth #CloudComputing #MachineLearning #NetworkAutomation #NetworkEngineering #AIinNetworking #FutureOfTech #Podcast #Tech

?? A barbershop, Amsterdam, #KubeCon, and Kelsey Hightower - I love this recap from Tim Banks of a virtuoso storyteller in action! Become a #StoryTeller to level up in #tech ?? William Collins Eyvonne Sharp #CloudComputing #CloudNativeCon #DevRel #SoftwareEngineering #Tech #Podcast