The Fall and Rise of Terrence Telco*

You know traffic lights are controlled over analogue private circuits, don't you Terry?

2010-04-12T06:29:00.000-07:00

So Terry is doing some work in an exchange.

He's trying to locate a pair he needs to connect a customer.

He shorts out one of the pairs with his pliers, and hears a screeching sound
outside.

"That's weird" he thinks. "Wonder what it was". He thinks some more.
"maybe if I try it again the same thing will happen".

He shorts out the pair.

Sure enough. "SCREECH!!!"

"Wow!", says Terry to himself. "what's this????"

Terry knows his mate Fred is in the exchange, and is an old hand at this
sort of thing.

So Terry goes to get Fred.

"Fred, take a look at this". If I short out this pair here there's a weird
screeching noise comes from outside the exchange!"

"What", says Fred. "Show me".

"Sure", says Terry and shorts the pair out.

"SCREEEEECH! CRUNCH!!!!!!"

"Blimey", says Fred. That's sounded like it came from just outside. Let's
take a look."

Fred and Terry swipe themselves out of the building (separately of course -
otherwise they'd never get back in).

The sight that meets their eyes is one of disaster. Two cars have collided
at the crossroads outside the exchange.

"Oops!", says Fred. "You know traffic lights are controlled over analogue
private circuits, don't you Terry?"

In a world that doesn't

2010-03-02T13:14:00.000-08:00

Droid: "in a world that doesn't, Droid does."

Where as "Terry Telco: doesn't, in a world that does."

Keeping customers according to Terry

2010-02-24T14:58:00.000-08:00

I saw a sign hanging from the ceiling of a work area the other day that read "Keep your customers...Think 2 year PSTN"

[Photo withheld to protect the guilty].

Laws of Terry

2010-02-05T09:21:00.000-08:00

#12: The most non-obvious, completely ass-backwards, most expensive, most complicated approach will always be taken.

#13: Any perceived progress or actual things happening at a Telco happen randomly/by chance.

#14: IP (v4 or v6) is not the way forward. Just because everyone is using it just means its worth funding a study to investigate it further.

#15: Any meeting is worth having again. Any great meeting is worth a recurring Outlook invite.

The Hierarchy of Things

2010-02-05T05:15:00.001-08:00

In Terry's world, there is a rigid hierarchy that must be observed. A chain of command if you will. Take any short-cuts through the chain and the links you have hopped over will become agitated and may retaliate in interesting ways.

If you have an issue, it must first be discussed with your manager. Preferably in an official fashion via email, or with meeting minutes. If it is determined that you must get an answer from someone above this person, the whole discussion must first be rehearsed and "sanitized" or "filtered" prior to going out. This usually comes in the form of an email message being previewed prior to being sent up the chain. If messages are to be sent to senior management then messages must be doubly-checked and filtered so as to not "offend the sensibilities" of the seniors. After all, these guys generally have the attention span of a 4 year-old with severe ADD, and so catching their attention for more than 20 seconds is a challenge in itself, but getting an actual reply that is meaningful and that can be acted upon -- that is indeed the trick.

The Irony of Meetings

2010-01-15T02:47:00.000-08:00

The irony of meetings with Terry is that "meeting actions" are always to take further non-action.

Terry Wants You to STOP Using The Internet

2009-12-28T12:31:00.000-08:00

It is ironic that when Terry plans to build a network, it is well over-built: 4-ways redundant paths, multiple power-failure counter measures, massively over-provisioned, etc... But when it actually comes time for users to do what their name implies -- use the service they are paying to consume, well, Terry doesn't quite like that and often recoils.

http://brainstormtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2009/12/28/what-brought-att-to-its-knees/

Could Richard Attenborough Be The Voice of Terry?

2009-11-05T03:59:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking would would be the voice of Terry if we ever decided to make a movie about Terry Telco, and I've come to the conclusion that it would be Richard Attenborough:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Attenborough

Terrnovation

2009-10-07T11:40:00.000-07:00

Terr-no-va-tion [terr-noh-vey-shuh] n,

-noun

The lack of innovation. Opposite to progress. To stop things in dead in their tracks.,

See innovate.

Related Forms: Terrivation (verb)

Terry-thon

2009-10-07T10:29:00.001-07:00

A long event (sometimes called a "HotHouse" or "brain storming session") whereby Terries gather together and devise very non-clever, and backwards methods for network design based on arcane, 70's circuit-switched methodology such as pushing new and clever mobility technologies over PSTN landlines.

Not-so-Working Model for Internal Operations

2009-10-01T07:36:00.001-07:00

After messing around with an online training course entitled "TerryTelco's (not-so) Working Model for Internal Operations" for 3 hours the the other day due to Terry designing it to work only on a specific (internal) build of Windows, on a Terry-approved laptop/desktop system, via the Terry-approved VPN (that only works on previously said configuration) I've learned one thing: That Terry's "Working Model for Internal Operations" is really about about keeping employees busy instead of being productive by having them spend 3.5 hours to complete a training course to learn about the model.

Marketing People Believing Their Own Marketing

2009-06-02T05:18:00.000-07:00

I was watching an interview last night on the news with the CFO of GM. His whole schtick was about how they were going to be reinvented into a new company through brand reductions and wait for it.... pumping more money into marketing and advertising. I thought to myself, does this guy really believe that more adds will sell more shiite cars? Then it occurred to me that TerryTelco.com has similar minded executives. For example, in a place that believes that internet use is down because there is nothing on the internet worth using or looking at -- not that its because the performance of the broadband network is so poor (or the access lines provide so little bandwidth) -- Terry instead will pump loads of money into marketing the next bump in access speed and call it "Ultra Super Duper Quick Broadband". There will be millions spent on lavish and exciting advertising around the launch of this service, but in the end the reality for the user will be the same as with anyone who has bought a GM car recently: disappointment.

When Life Gets Bad, Lower Your Expections Until It Gets Better

2009-05-21T06:52:00.000-07:00

Not long ago the leadership team at TerryTelco.Com was instructed to go to an HR-sponsored "leadership training". During this training we were instructed on the virtues of repositioning our thoughts and feelings about different situations and how this could be done in such a way as to be to our advantage. At first this seemed to make sense until it turned into an L. Ron Hubbard Dianetics seminar. The instructor told us that in essence, it was our minds getting in the way of our happiness at work, as well as perhaps a lack of progress. What we needed to do is one of three things:

1) Accept the situation.
2) Think more positively about the situation until it made us happy.
3) Leave.

Since the first option was counter to what the seminar was on, we skipped that one. We also conspicuously skipped the third one: no one ever leaves TerryTelco.Com, right? Finally, we dug into what the second point -- the brunt of his thesis -- was. So he gave us this example where we had to think of a situation that was seemingly impossible, and to think more positively about it. Magically, those of us that have not been brainwashed through 30 years of employment at TerryTelco were amazingly unconvinced. This is rediculous, right? It gets better. One of our more outspoken colegues decided to give an example of how this was complete and utter bullshit. He explained why one of the systems we were made to use was well, I will not use the actual term he used, so for lack of a better term let say he called it "a sham." When he explained that there was no way in hell that thinking better about this system could make it better, the HR representatives blinked in utter puzzlement. Then they looked at each other, much like two deer might in the woods, smiled then completely ignored his point and re-explained his original point as if our colegue was daft and just didn't get the point. When I looked around the room, I noticed that the other Terries in the room were too shocked. Afterall, whatever HR feeds us is good -- don't resist, is apparently the mantra for Terry.

When our colegue re-explained his point -- using a much louder tone this time as he is known to do -- the HR people looked at each other with even more confused and then frightened looks. At this point I really thought they would call security and have him taken away to the HR centre to have his brain 'fixed'. Fortunately that didn't happen. We left it at that and continued on to the next section of rediculous training.

Terri-Tastic!

2009-05-20T18:50:00.000-07:00

The title of this post really has the opposite of what you might think. Terri-Tastic has more of a negative meaning than anything else. For example, when you sit through a one hour meeting, where the first 15-25 minutes is spent figuring out how to get everyone on the call, saying hellos and general small talk, getting the silly collaboration "tools" working, planning for the next call, etc... and then you finally have the discussion where absolutely nothing happens because you've revisited a discussion that you had 20 times already over the past 2 years, that is Terri-Tastic.

Another example is when the IT department mandates the use of their special PCs and Windows build (which is badly broken to begin with), and that uses a different version of Java to run the VPN client than is required to run the time booking/management/vacation tracking system. So as soon as you are connected via the VPN, you cannot manage your time/booking/vacation because the Java application won't run on your IT-sanctioned PC. Ready to rip your hair out yet? I am.

The final example of this term would be a discussion about some topic, call it designing high speed lollipops, where the product management - who has spent months and months compiling the so-called requirements -- decides that they no longer like them because they wish to use a different technology to build this high-speed lollipop than is needed by the customer requirements -- decide to change (yes change!) the requirements. When it is pointed out that they are no longer customer requirements, and you then get a blank stare this is a Terri-Tastic moment.

Talkitecture

2009-05-20T06:12:00.000-07:00

Talkitecture - Architecture based loads and loads of discussion situated in a fantasy world. Most often performed by Terries with "Chief Something or other" in his title.

I have been in numerous meetings over time with Terries from our Chief Technology Office who have titles like "Chief Architect of " and I can tell you that %99 of these discussions have been useless -- completely useless. Why you ask is this so generally the case? The answer is easy: these guys specialize in what I call Talkitecture. This is the dark art of endless (often circular) discussions about a topic without ever actually resolving any issues or (gulp) implementing anything.

Take for example, the seemingly endless discussions around whether or not to do Fibre to the Premise (FTTP) versus Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) that go on in just about every Terry Telco outfit these days. These discussions often go like this:

Question: Why do we need to upgrade our access plant to support FTTP/C?

Terry: Well, architecturally speaking, we've had technologies like PON available for decades. The problem is that there has never been a business case to do this. After all, what would anyone do with all of that bandwidth anyway?

This same discussion will go on and on (seemingly forever at some Telcos) cycling between FTTC as a compromise, and FTTP beacuse its "cool". At some point, some pointy-haired manager will request that we bring in the "big guns" from the CTO office to mull over the problem with them. Heck, they've likely been on full-time research projects related to FTTP/PON since the late 1970s, so they should know a thing or two about this stuff anyways. What happens then is they come in and bring their Talkitecture to the party. They talk, talk, talk and talk some more -- often across months of meetings. At some point in the discussion, we will cycle through all of the arguments that the original architecture team has gone through, and finally -- the coup de grace -- will be to cycle back and revisit the original discussions that even the CTO Terries brought forward. Hence, completing the cycle of Talkitecture.

The smart operations cut out

The Terrygasm

2009-01-14T10:27:00.000-08:00

Terrygasm

terry⋅gasm [ter-ri-gaz-uhm]
–noun

1.the physical and emotional sensation experienced at the peak of excitation by a Terry (see Terrytelco.com), usually resulting from stimulation of some idea pertaining to out-dated Telco behavior, activities, processes, or devices.

Examples include getting approval to spend vast amounts of money to deploy an ancient technology that is slightly faster than the existing one, completely over-engineering something that could be done with off-the-shelf components for a lot less money, endlessly debating topics (resulting in a self-induced terrygasm), planning for new meetings (while in an existing one), compiling meeting minutes from and old meeting, or getting together for daily "tea time", having lunch at a predictable eating time, or getting a "new" mobile handset (usually one that is 4 years out-of-date, but it is still at least 4 years newer than his last one).

2. an instance of experiencing this.

3. intense or unrestrained excitement related to an out-dated Telco concept, object or process.

4. an instance or occurrence of such excitement.

–verb (used without object)

5. to have a terrygasm.

Origin:
2008; terrytelco.com

Terry's Cost Cutting Maneuver of the Week

2008-12-17T08:20:00.001-08:00

Terry is on the rampage to save money these days. Rather than cutting costs by reducing the number of Terries around the shop -- which would definitely help things on a number of dimensions -- he again prefers to nickle and dime us to savings Nirvana.

One example is the other day when I went out to a local take-away place to get some sushi for lunch and forgot to bring cutlery back with my food. So I went up to the canteen and asked the friendly, helpful girl on the till, "do you have any plastic cutlery?" She replied, "What do you want it for?". Amazed that she could think I wanted it for any other purpose, I said, "to eat something" . To which she replied, "You'll have to pay for it", she said, "it's 10p".

You can't make this stuff up.

Anyone With Intelligence Need Not Apply for A Job at a Telco

2008-12-10T07:59:00.001-08:00

Last week a dude in my group -- lets call him George -- had been having a really, really bad day due to the airline loosing his luggage and just being general shits about locating them. At one point he was about to put his fist through his monitor after talking with them when they suggested that next time his bags might not disappear if he travel with less expensive ones.

So to calm things down, another guy lets call him Jim, says, "hey man lets go upstairs to the canteen and I'll buy you a tea." So they go up to the canteen. George who does not like to use Styrofoam because he is concerned about its over-use, decides to grab a paper cup instead. gets a tea and goes in line. The woman at the register rings him up and says, "that will be 65 cents please." George says, "but I've got a tea in there, and that is 40cents, right?" She says, "Oh dear Sir, Telco Regulations require that I charge based on the container and since you've got a paper cup its 65 cents." Luckily Jim was there to stop George from jumping over the counter and strangling this poor ninny.

This is a good analogy for why deep packet inspection might be necessary. Charging simply based on the container isn't always the way to best maximize or economize the charge for network traffic.

Virtualisation should make life more flexible

2008-11-30T12:41:00.000-08:00

I use a Mac as do many of my colleagues, although the majority of my company use PCs. Using a Mac isn't completely trouble free as some of the intranet applications I need to use are PC/IE only. I heard my company was providing Virtual Machines of the corporate PC build to testers and thought this would be ideal - I could run the corporate PC as an official VM and not have to have a second PC lying around for those times when something will only work on PC/IE.

Apparently that would be too easy as when I contacted the Terry who dished them out I was told "Sorry, we do not provide a corporate VM for running on Mac devices" and was told to contact a second Terry to query the policy. Despite leaving voicemail & sending email I'm being ignored.

Pushing Terry #1 a bit more went nowhere either and was just met with "I am not the decision maker here. I have more than enough on my plate, and no particular desire to challenge on this".

Well thanks for your help Terry!

Light on the Dough, Heavy on the Nuts

2008-11-20T13:18:00.000-08:00

Terry is very uncomfortable with conflict. I think we've discussed this before. One example is how in today's current economic climate, Terry has to make tough decisions like making choices about how many employees he can afford to keep on staff but he will avoid this decision as long as possible. Due to lots of concessions and agreements he made with his employee unions in the past to avoid conflict then, he is now faced with many difficulties related to how to prune his staff now -- in effect paying for his past mistakes now. The hard decision of whether or not to axe staff is difficult under normal conditions, but by avoiding conflict during the good times when the contracts were negotiated he is now faced with even worse conditions and worse -- extremely conflict-full situations. To avoid this -- or rather delay it a little longer, he now decides that cutting costs (and benefits) for everyone is apropos: bonuses, salaries, travel, etc.... He will not fire workers yet despite the writing on the wall even though it would mean that this would likely keep the standard of benefits for those really productive workers at current levels. You see, Terry likes it when all things for all people are equal, and this includes preserving jobs for even the Twinkies (R) at the expense of the well-being of the others that really get the work done. This is why often jobs in Terry Town are short on the dough, but heavy on the nuts.

Progress Calmly Into the Comfort Zone

2008-11-17T06:58:00.000-08:00

A colleague was recently taking an internal Stress Management course and stumbled upon this line in the guide in the section pertaining to fire alarms:

"When the alarm first rings we are stimulated into arousal and progress into the comfort zone."

Complexity

2008-11-16T07:30:00.000-08:00

I came across this family tree of US Telecommunications companies:
http://www.neatorama.com/neat/family-tree-telecommunication.htm

This quote caught my eye:
"Since the very first telephone companies were founded, it seems that telecommunication companies never do business as just one entity when ten would do. Whatever the reason - be it compliance with local regulations, taking advantages of tax loopholes, obfuscation or simply fondness of complexity - subsidiaries and complex corporate structures are the raison d'être for these companies."

It seems complexity is a family trait for Terry that he just can't shake off.

Unwarranted Optimism

2008-11-13T05:39:00.000-08:00

Terry hates change; change is bad because it might result in his formal 'job description' changing. Heavens that would be dreadful. What often happens is that some Terries may identify this and hire in some non-Terries from elsewhere. They might come in with unbridled optimism and try to 'fix things'. Unfortunately as the narrative above explains, this most often results in unwarranted optimism because Terry and his Immune System (see below) often comes to the rescue and kills any such optimism before it can flourish.

Effort

2008-11-07T07:45:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I was working on a project whereby I needed to get some slides to review. It was getting late on Friday and I was to take a flight home, so I asked Terry to give me the slides so I could read them on my flight home. Terry refused because his union rules only allowed him to work 32 hours a week. Despite my not being in the union, he told me that he was not allowed to encourage others to work more than him. He sent me the slides the following Monday.

Terry & Process

2008-09-29T12:31:00.000-07:00

Terry loves process. Processes are necessary in order to build & deliver consistent services but process for process' sake is bad.

It always amazes me how many processes are required to get anything done with Terry. This process bloat seriously hampers the time taken to get a service to market. I've lost count of the number of projects where there appears to be more delivery (aka process) managers than there are people actually delivering the product or service.

Every now and again I hear that the bloat will be stripped away (along with the associated middle management) but it always creeps (often runs) back in and we're back to process bloat in no time.

Maybe it's because Terry is very comfortable when he has a process to follow - it's like a comfort blanket for him, he doesn't need to think for himself he's just following the process or maybe it's a symptom of a large company where people have to find someway to appear useful & important in order to perpetuate their justification for being employed?

Dilbert & Terry (2)

2008-08-10T10:35:00.001-07:00

Allen is Terry!

Meetings

2008-07-06T09:41:00.000-07:00

Terry loves meetings. A day full of meetings is a very predictable
way of spending another day in the office, or even a day at home when they are held via teleconference.

However, meetings can be deceptive just like e-mail. They can give the false satisfaction of a good days work when little has really been achieved.

It always surprises me when I attend a meeting that is full of lots of people yet only a small number of the attendees ever speak. The organiser often seems to have invited everyone under the sun and I am never sure whether this is because they want to avoid offending anyone by not inviting them, or just that they've invited everyone they know to justify having a meeting.

I am always amazed that people also seem to have the time to attend meetings where they don't contribute, maybe they just like attending meetings even if they're not relevant to their work or maybe they're in the wrong place but too embarrassed to 'fess up. The other day I was sat in a meeting and just as it was about to start someone rushed in and sat down. We did some introductions and it was clear that he was in the wrong room as his job was completely different to everyone else's. As the meeting was just a meet & greet I didn't say anything and neither did anyone else. It was almost an hour before he realised he was in the wrong place. Incredible!

Terry Cloth

2008-06-19T07:42:00.000-07:00

Terry’s dress code is one of conformance. He must not stray from the standard issue outfit comprised of a sensibly nice grey (or other monochromatic color scheme) suit from M&S and a matching tie. Once every ten or fifteen years Terry makes a periodic trip to his local M&S, buying two pairs of trousers and one jacket to ensure it will last until his next trip. He prefers mixed wool/polyester as it tends to outlast pure wool, or sometimes 100% polyester as it is cheaper. Terry wears sensible black leather shoes with this outfit – just like the ones his mum bought him when he was a schoolboy.

Changing any of these things (or any other kind) would be very upsetting to Terry. He will not deviate from this Plan of Record. Deviation from this standard outfit upsets Terry as it might result in discord and discontent. Terry is Change Averse. Terry likes to wrap himself in his warm and safe Terry Cloth.

Opening up access to the blog

2008-06-18T07:24:00.000-07:00

As you may have noticed I am struggling to find the cycles to keep the blog up to date so I am opening it up for others to post.

If you would like to become a terrytelco.com blogger just e-mail your details and short overview of what you could bring to terrytelco.com and I may add you as an author

Pipe Dreams

2008-05-05T15:12:00.000-07:00

Terry likes selling bandwidth pipes. It's something he can understand because selling bandwidth pipes is pretty similar to selling circuits and Terry has been selling circuits his entire life.

However, Terry needs to stop just selling pipes and start to sell services. Pipes are a commodity business with low (and ever decreasing) margins. Services are where the revenues are, pipes are just a means to deliver the services.

If Terry doesn't start to sell high margin services as well as pipes then someone else will be selling the high margin services and keeping the revenue to themselves leaving Terry with just his low margin pipes. In fact it's already happening and Terry is at risk of being left behind before he even starts.

Terry-O-Meter

2008-05-05T15:09:00.000-07:00

I have added a Terry-O-Meter to the left hand side of the page which I will use to show my current level of frustration caused by Terry.

The hare & the tortoise

2008-04-17T14:05:00.000-07:00

We were all told Aesop's fable of the hare and the tortoise as children. The moral being slow and steady wins the race. Terry is the tortoise and his competitors are hares.

In the past where networks were built using equipment that was expected to remain deployed for years, if not decades, slow and steady was a good approach as you had time on your side and any mistakes could lead to additional cost for years to come.

In today's world time is not on your side - time to market is critical and equipment may only stay in the network for 24-36 months. This means that if it takes longer than 6-12 months to deploy then either the equipment will not manage to pay for itself or you run the risk of it being superceded by new, cheaper equipment and/or technology which makes you uncompetitive in the market or worse the equipment is end of life before it is even deployed!

Terry needs to change from being a tortoise to being a hare as slow and steady no longer wins the race.

Dilbert & Terry

2008-04-16T04:59:00.000-07:00

I know how Asok feels...

Corporate Epidemics

2008-04-09T08:46:00.000-07:00

My musing on Corporate Immune systems prompted me to finally read Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point. The book is all about epidemics, specifically what causes social epidemics like fashion trends or crime sprees/declines etc.

I started wondering whether the same principles can be used to create a corporate epidemic - specifically one targetted at Terry's immune system.

The things that causes an event to "tip" and become an epidemic are often small and seemingly inconsequential. Rarely is an epidemic caused by a single big event although that is often what is concluded as a result of superficial analysis. This got me thinking that the way to combat Terry is not with big events but with many small, grass roots level changes.

Gladwell concludes that the cause of social epidemics is a combination of:

A small group of extraordinary people who produce the original idea/strategy/marketing/etc.
A group of "connectors" who have the contacts and personal relationships required to spread the idea.
The "stickiness" of the idea - i.e. how memorable it is so that it sparks people into action.
The ability for the idea to move from popularity amongst Early Adopters and be picked up by the Mainstream.

The first three are relatively easy to achieve provided you have the right people and even if you don't you can hire them. Number four is IMO the hardest part of all and why so many good ideas either fail or are defeated by the corporate immune system.

To achieve number four requires that the original idea is translated into a form that is understandable by and palatable to Terry. This doesn't require that the idea is dramatically changed from its original form, just that it is presented to Terry in a manner that he can comprehend and consequently it pushes the right buttons to spur him into action. Once a few Terries have picked up the idea, it will likely cascade and and become an epidemic infecting Terries at every level within the organisation. The best bit of all is that once infected Terry won't even realise what has happened.

Therefore, good ideas & good people aren't enough unless you also have the "translators" that can infect Terry with those ideas and cause Terry to create his own corporate epidemics that are ultimately his downfall and conversion from Terry to Non-Terry.

A week without Terry

2008-04-09T08:43:00.000-07:00

I have had a number of complaints about the blog not being updated recently. My apologies I have been on holiday spending time blissfully not thinking about Terry.

Corporate Immunity

2008-03-31T14:29:00.000-07:00

Corporations have a "corporate immune system". Just as a biological immune system serves to protect its host from potentially damaging pathogens, the corporate immune system serves to protect the corporation from potentially damaging ideas. As the immune system is generally adaptive over time it becomes stronger, so the older the corporation the stronger its immune response becomes. This is why most old corporations are considered to be conservative in their approach to new ideas.

Unfortunately most large corporations have developed a hypersensitive immune system where the immune system actually serves to damage its host by attacking and failing to embrace new ideas which would be of benefit to the corporation.

Hypersensitive biological immune systems systems can be treated with medication but what is the appropriate treatment for a hypersensitive corporate immune system?

Walled Gardens 2

2008-03-27T00:07:00.000-07:00

Fancy getting stuck in the lift overnight?

This reminds me of the BOFH, specifically this episode.

Institutionalisation

2008-03-23T10:42:00.000-07:00

Terry is institutionalised. The structure and routine that Terry has followed for many years has lead to a narrowing and reduction in his ability to perform critical judgement and reasoning.

Just like a long term prisoner, Terry is surrounded by barriers that prevent his escape, only the barriers are often not imposed upon him but are of Terry's own making.

Unlike a prisoner, Terry does have the option of escape by seeking a new employer but, like many prisoners, escape is often not an option considered by Terry as his institutionalisation means he is unable to integrate himself back into the wider telecommunications society.

Terry has therefore condemned himself to a life sentence, where life means until retirement.

Is there anything we can do to help Terry reintegrate back into society?

Technology as a service

2008-03-19T16:41:00.001-07:00

Terry doesn't sell services, he sells technology. This leads to a proliferation of service specific platforms, a migration nightmare for Terry's customers and additional costs for Terry as it makes platform closure more difficult than it should be.

What customers want is service, they don't (generally) care what the underlying technology is as long as their service requirements and SLAs are met.

Services should be decoupled from the technology used to deliver them. This has a number of advantages including:

- The ability to deliver the same service over a range of delivery technologies/networks (including ones that Terry does not own).
- The ability to change the delivery technology/network without having to change the service definition.
- The ability to offer converged services even if the underlying technology/network platforms aren't converged.
- Etc.

Terry is trying to decouple his services from the delivery technology but it requires a holistic approach and this is a new concept for Terry and one he is struggling with. By the time he gets there will it be too late?

Walled Gardens

2008-03-18T16:00:00.000-07:00

Terry loves walled gardens. He appears to have extended the concept to his building security. As I was leaving tonight I saw a number of visitors trying to leave the building but their visitors badges did not work on the automatic security gates so they couldn't get out. What did Terry's security guard do? Open the gate for the visitors as you'd expect, oh no, he refused to let them out.

It would appear that Terry is no longer just a mindset, it's a disease and it's spreading. Time for mandatory vaccinations.

I was only following the project plan

2008-03-17T14:23:00.000-07:00

Terry doesn't think for himself. Terry doesn't question his 'orders'. Terry doesn't or can't consider the big picture. All Terry cares about is ticking off the tasks in his project plan and delivering his project on time (which he frequently fails to do).

The result for Terry: An inability to offer truly converged services as each service is defined and delivered in isolation (on separate, often incompatible, platforms) without any consideration for the other services that Terry offers.

The result for Terry's customers: Frustration and confusion!

The solution: Terry should be held to account for his telecommunications crimes.

Terry Telco

2008-03-15T17:22:00.000-07:00

Working in telecommunications means I regularly have to interact with people I will nickname 'Terry Telco' or 'Terry' for short. Terry often has a blinkered view of the world which I suspect is the result of the world of telecommunications evolving around him at a pace which is faster than he can adapt to. Terry is the telecommunications equivalent of Homo sapiens neanderthalensis.

I intend to use this blog to vent the frustration that Terry causes me on a daily basis as well as to publish the random thoughts and opinions that I am too polite to inflict on people in person.