Heavy Strategy: Recent Episodes
Packet Pushers Interactive LLC
IT folks spent a lot of time in the last 20 years creating globe-spanning infrastructures that maximize performance while minimizing the number of data centers or cloud instances they operate. More recently, the steady rise of regionalized data sovereignty requirements has created counter-pressure. AI regulations are now adding to that pressure to ditch a single... Read more »
Some enterprises are finding reasons to pull back from a cloud-first IT strategy and run workloads in on-premises data centers. John and Johna dig into why companies are making the change, including cost and AI security. They also discuss and the strategic implications for IT, and what organizations stand to gain—and lose—from repatriation. Episode Links:... Read more »
“Everybody codes” was an enterprise buzzword. In this era of AI vibe-coding and single-use coding, should everyone code? Should anyone code? John and Johna talk about enterprise strategies with respect to coding in the AI era, including what expertise to look for in employees. AdSpot Sponsor: Meter Meter delivers full-stack networking—wired, wireless, and cellular—to leading... Read more »
AI can generate working code quickly. Building reliable software to run infrastructure platforms is still a multi-year engineering challenge. In this sponsored episode, BlueCat chief strategy officer Andrew Wertkin joins John Burke and Scott Robohn to talk through the difference between code generation and enterprise software development, and the challenges and opportunities of engineering reliability... Read more »
VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure) and Desktop as a Service (DaaS) have been arriving “real soon now” for the past couple of decades. Will the advent of vendors’ AI spyware (as Google is introducing through Chrome) be the accelerant that finally makes it happen? John and Johna discuss why the challenges in this brave new AI-enabled... Read more »
By now most organizations have AI strategies (among their other tech strategies). But how do you know when it’s time to make a midcourse correction? Better still: How can you predict when, and what kind of corrections you might need? John and Johna discuss, and tell the story of how a university prepared for technology... Read more »
Most enterprises have some kind of zero trust strategy, but a lot of them could be better described as good intentions rather than active programs being implemented. Making good on a zero trust strategy and achieving an actual zero trust architecture requires tools that embody the core precept of zero trust thinking: deny access by... Read more »
How can enterprise IT folks prepare for the age of Mythos? Anthropic says its Claude Mythos model is so much better at finding software vulnerabilities that it has delayed public release. Instead Anthropic launched Project Glasswing to give IT infrastructure and software makers early access, so they can have some lead time to address vulnerabilities... Read more »
Enterprise strategists need to worry about securing their environments against AI-powered attacks. John and Johna discuss what cybersecurity and IT leaders need to consider in developing a cybersecurity strategy that addresses AI-augmented threats as well as how to use AI defensively … and why AI attacks can be like a duckbilled platypus. AdSpot Sponsor: Meter... Read more »
Your enterprise better have a cybersecurity strategy for AI. But where to start? Everywhere! Securing AI means securing all the AI layers and throughout the lifecycle: data, model, and applications, in training and in inference. Johna and John discuss what your strategy must address and how to get support for it because, of course, it’s... Read more »
How should you shape your IT strategy around the possibility–or is it probability–that the AI economy is a true bubble and will burst soon? John Burke and Johna Johnson revisit the signs indicating that an AI bubble is in full swing and pointing to the potential for collapse in the near term. Doomsaying having been... Read more »
The best strategy in the world won’t succeed if a team falters operationally. But what is operational excellence, and what does it take to acquire it? Cal Poly faculty member (and former Intel strategist) John Miranda shares his thinking with our Heavy Strategy listeners. He discusses concepts like the theory of constraints, root-cause analysis, and... Read more »
Mav Turner, Chief Product Officer at Kentik, joins John Burke and Drew Conry-Murray for an in-depth conversation on the importance of deep visibility into enterprise networks. As networks grow more complex and stretch from on-prem and WAN to multi-cloud and edge locations, this sponsored discussion explores how good visibility supports everything from daily operations to... Read more »
At CES in January, NVIDIA, AMD, Siemens and others spun elaborate tales of a world suffused with AI: AI in the cloud, AI at the desktop, AI in the factory, AI underneath enterprise software and as the UI for enterprise software and agentically accomplishing anything and everything in a world of embodied, physical AI. Johna... Read more »
Every employer knows to conduct background checks. However, conducting background checks on IT professionals requires an extra layer of verification, given the privileged access they typically have to IT systems and tools. Moreover, in this AI era, background checks need to be deeper and more effective than before–in the past we didn’t need to verify... Read more »
The recent U.S. Executive Order 14365, Ensuring a National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence, is the administration’s latest attempt to prevent the enforcement of most of the AI laws passed in individual US states. Because it is only an executive order (EO), it cannot directly nullify, supersede, forestall, or put a pause on state-level laws.... Read more »
Are there some things that can come off your strategic planning radar for IT and cybersecurity in 2026? If you ask AI, you’ll get some surprising answers. Johna and John take a critical look at this AI-generated list to see which ones may or may not be “solved enough” to fall off the strategic planning... Read more »
Leaders may shy away from thinking about insider threats because it means assuming the worst about colleagues and friends. But technology executives do need to confront this problem because insider attacks are prevalent—a recent study claims that in 2024, 83% of organizations experienced at least one—and on the rise. Moreover, AI and deepfakes vastly enhance... Read more »
Your next security teammate might not be a traditional hire — it could be a Digital Security Teammate (DST),” says Secure.com CEO Uzair Gadit. In this sponsored episode, Uzair explains the concept of a DST and how it differs from an AI SOC. He highlights the operational and business benefits of deploying DST, including improved... Read more »
As you wind down 2025, what should you be planning to do for 2026? The Heavy Strategy team breaks it down for you with eight resolutions for the new year. From setting an AI strategy to cloud optimization, Johna and John can help you enter the new year prepared for what’s next. Other resolutions include... Read more »
Anand Oswal, Executive Vice President at Palo Alto Networks, joins Johna Johnson and John Burke for a wide-ranging exploration of two emerging focal points of enterprise risk: cryptographically relevant quantum computing, and browser-mediated agentic AI. The looming arrival of quantum computers that can break legacy encryption has already created the threat of “harvest now, decrypt... Read more »
AI and other technologies are increasingly capable of delivering company-ending events. How do you have “the conversation” with senior leadership–the one about the existential risks your organization faces, and the steps needed for remediation–in a way that ensures that your company is maximally protected, and that you get the resources you need? AdSpot Sponsor: Meter ... Read more »
Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) initiatives aren’t just “the right thing to do”, they can also save companies real dollars, particularly if they’re investing in data centers and other infrastructure. Join Jonathan Ciccio, Continuous Improvement Manager for The Siemon Company, as we discuss The Siemon Company’s ESG initiatives. The Siemon Company has been in business for... Read more »
The evolution of the modern, Internet-driven economy has created the conditions for essentially unbounded Nth-party risks (that is, risks from your suppliers, and risks from your suppliers’ suppliers, and risks from your suppliers’ suppliers’ suppliers, ad infinitum). Nth party risks exist in public clouds, SaaS, software and hardware supply chains, and now in the form... Read more »
To understand how much to spend on cybersecurity, you have to accurately assess or quantify your risks. Too many people still peg their cybersecurity spend to their IT budget; that is, they’ll look at what they’re spending on IT, and then allocate a percentage of that to cybersecurity. That may have made some sense when... Read more »
In times of major change–whether in IT or the economy–organizations should take a fresh look at their sourcing strategy. Companies outsourcing key functions need to re-examine the reasoning and scrutinize the results. The same goes for in-house functions. IT leaders need to ask: is our sourcing strategy in line with our current corporate and IT... Read more »
Sure, some days you hate your job. But how do you know when an IT position has gone from being run-of-the-mill annoying to truly toxic? And what do you do about it? Johna Johnson and John Burke are joined by Sandy Miller, a pseudonym for a CIO at a major global company who talks about... Read more »
Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) promises enterprises the ability to set up and configure connectivity and network security with a couple of clicks. But for NaaS to truly transform enterprise networking, one thing has been missing: standards. Enter Mplify (formerly the Metro Ethernet Forum), a non-profit focused on standardizing NaaS service definitions. Mplify’s CTO, Pascal Menezes, joins Johna... Read more »
The modern enterprise is built on cloud, with most organizations using SaaS for their “horizontal” work horse layers, such as communications, conferencing, HR, and payroll. That makes the enterprise entirely dependent on the good-faith execution and good-will delivery of the cloud providers. Those providers have a huge economic incentive to reliably deliver software – but... Read more »
Google now estimates that the specs for a Cryptographically Relevant Quantum Computer (CRQC), which can break conventional public key encryption in a useful amount of time, are lower than they had previously estimated…by 95%. Given the breadth and pace of advancement in quantum computing, this makes the advent of the CRQC likely to happen years... Read more »
Is adding AI to your environment a software purchase? Or is it more like hiring an employee? Heavy Strategy’s John Burke and Johna Johnson debate whether AI should be treated as just another application you buy and use, or be handled like an employee you’re bringing on staff (complete with background and reference checks, training... Read more »
Whether it’s CNAME records pointing to dead endpoints or abandoned cloud storage buckets still mentioned in the makefile or Chef recipe, seemingly innocuous bits of infrastructure that don’t get cleaned up can turn into serious security threats. (Both of these examples are taken from real-life attacks, BTW). When and how and who within IT should... Read more »
Here we are, a bit more than halfway through the year. How’s your execution against your strategy going? Roiled by the economy? Disrupted by tariffs? Thrown off by staff retirements? If you built a proper technology strategy in the first place, driven by the business strategy, then no matter what is happening don’t ignore it,... Read more »
IT teams deal with technology lifecycle issues all the time–including Y2K, which enterprises across the world grappled with for years. The Epochalypse, or Year 2038 Problem, is similar. Specifically, some Linux systems’ date-time counters will go from positive to negative at a specific date in 2038, potentially wreaking havoc on embedded systems and any other... Read more »
You need someone to design your operations processes–or perhaps redesign them. That’s an Ops Architect. Should you take an ops person and train them up in architecture? Or an architect and train them up in operations? Do you even have that ops/engineer/architect organizational structure – and should you? Johna and John dive into this discussion... Read more »
How far ahead should you plan, and what things belong in your strategic plan? Conventional wisdom holds that a 3-year planning horizon is “about right”–but in a period of rapid technical and geopolitical change (such as we’re arguably in right now) does that go too far out, particularly when agile methodologies recommend shorter action plans... Read more »
It’s all well and good to develop a technology strategy, articulate and document the strategy, and agree (supposedly) on that strategy. But what do you do when one or more of the tech teams act in apparent opposition to the strategy? John and Johna discuss why this happens and what questions you need to ask... Read more »
AI can impact an enterprise in several ways: making individuals more productive, making products and services more effective, and making it easier for customers and partners to do business. IT plays a critical role in enabling AI to have these impacts. On today’s sponsored Heavy Strategy, Cisco CIO Fletcher Previn explains how to locate AI use... Read more »
Most organizations have a long list of security holes in the form of unpatched systems and other known but unresolved vulnerabilities. Is it time to hit the big PAUSE button and fix, patch, or mitigate all of that before we resume deploying new systems (and their accompanying risks)? Join us as we tear into whether... Read more »
Is it actually possible to run a team without lying? Steven Gaffney, author of the book, “Just Be Honest”, joins Johna and John to talk about why being honest is harder than it sounds–and how (and why) to do it anyway. Steven spends his career advising science and technology leaders about how to be more... Read more »
IT and network leaders need more than uptime—they need to know what their networks cost, what they deliver, and how future changes will impact the business. That’s where Netos comes in. CEO and founder Richard Foster joins Johna and John in a lively discussion to explore how Netos turns complex operational data into clear financial... Read more »
What do you do when your colleagues or senior leaders ask you to do something illegal? It’s hardly hypothetical; recent years have seen high-profile firings and convictions of CIOs and CISOs who’ve been ordered to break the law. John and Johna discuss steps that tech leaders can take if they’re put on the spot. Episode... Read more »
IT teams too often wrap a strategy statement around a basket of projects already in progress or known to be coming, rather than defining a strategy and then letting it spawn, guide, or absorb projects. On today’s Heavy Strategy we discuss whether IT teams have any alternative to this approach, given how much gets “thrown... Read more »
Someone needs to be scanning the horizon for the threats and opportunities that are distant for now–and they need to be able to turn that foresight into action. We welcome John Miranda of Intel for a lively discussion of how to look ahead, how to get folks to pay attention to the alerts you raise,... Read more »
Can AI and automation create a truly autonomous network, one that’s self-diagnosing and self-healing? Join Vitria CTO and Founder Dale Skeen and industry analyst Charlotte Patrick in this sponsored episode of Heavy Strategy to discuss the challenges–and limitations–of using AI to create autonomous networking. This discussion covers the “intelligence architecture” required to implement automation, and ... Read more »
AI Large Language Models (LLMs) can be used to generate output that the creators and users of those models didn’t intend; for example, harassment, instructions on how to make a bomb, or facilitating cybercrime. Researchers have created the HarmBench framework to measure how easily an AI can be weaponized. Recently these researchers trumpeted the finding... Read more »
Billy Joel had it right: It’s a matter of trust. Too often Operations, Engineering, and Architecture teams don’t trust one another–and nobody trusts leadership (and vice versa!). Special guest (and PacketPushers host) Scott Robohn joins us to talk about how to build trust, and the special role of an Operations Architect. Episode Guest: Scott Robohn, ... Read more »
It’s better to plan for your IT strategy than not. But sometimes circumstances arise such that the plan, no matter how well conceived, just doesn’t work any more. On today’s Heavy Strategy, we explore how and why you should change a plan in the context of IT and business objectives. Sometimes this means small changes... Read more »
Recent events have driven home a simple fact: neither your devices nor your network services can be trusted totally, and they could all be turned against you, possibly fatally. Join us as we discuss the harsh realities of the evolving cybersecurity space, and how enterprise leaders in and out of IT need to change their... Read more »
This has been a big year for AI regulation, from the EU AI Act to the much hyped California SB1047, currently in limbo. With things bubbling along across the country, and at the federal level, and internationally, there’s a lot going on and IT folks should be keeping current and planning to meet a changing... Read more »
Some high-profile companies like Amazon are mandating all employees return to the office, full time. Justifications, when given, mostly revolve around productivity and innovation. We say, whoa there! The data don’t back up the idea that hybrid and remote work hurt productivity (kind of the opposite) or innovation, and the real justifications likely lie elsewhere.... Read more »
Analysis paralysis is a huge problem in IT – we “study” and “evaluate” and “keep on our radar” but then all too often have a choice and a need to act thrust upon us, and need to switch modes fast. How do we try to get more mileage out of the studying to get leverage... Read more »
Startup Alkira has built a Network as a Service (NaaS) offering that extends from on prem to public cloud and multi-cloud. Today’s sponsored episode of Heavy Strategy digs in to Alkira’s capabilities in multi-cloud networking, security, automation, and cost transparency. Guest Manan Shah, SVP of Product at Alkira, explains how Alkira simplifies network management, enhances... Read more »
In this episode, John and Johna share the findings from the recent [Next] conference that most inspired them: How to project-manage an 18-year effort to put a drone on Titan, why AI algorithms need to consider the factor of time, how to train robots, and why effective storytelling is an essential tool in a technology... Read more »
Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good… it’s a challenge that architects and strategists often face. They may design a “perfect” architecture or strategy, only to see it overwhelmed by the realities of implementation. John Burke and Johna Johnson discuss the questions to ask to ensure that devotion to the perfect doesn’t... Read more »
Cisco CIO Fletcher Previn visits Heavy Strategy to talk about how to create a technology culture, what it’s like being “customer zero”, and other challenges and tribulations of running IT from inside one of the world’s largest tech companies. Episode Guest: Fletcher Previn, SVP & Chief Information Officer, Cisco Fletcher Previn has over two decades... Read more »
Network veteran Russ White joins the Heavy Strategy team for a rousing discussion on why protocols fail, how much complexity is too much, why “premature optimization is the root of all evil” (Donald Knuth) and why architects should always remember to think about state. Episode Guest: Russ White, Senior Architect, Akamai Technologies For the last... Read more »
The low-code/no-code movement means business users who aren’t programmers can create software. This capability might make these citizen coders more efficient and productive, but could also pose risks due to a lack of formal training in software development and security. Is citizen coding a boon or bane to business? Johna Johnson and John Burke discuss... Read more »
AI seems to be changing everything, including your IT infrastructure. Do you have a strategic plan for your AI infrastructure? Today we discuss the merits and challenges of cloud computing, on-premises solutions, hybrid models, and edge computing along with the importance of low latency for real-time AI applications and the potential of edge computing in... Read more »
To borrow a phrase first used in a military context, no tech strategy survives its first contact with real users. Today’s Heavy Strategy explores common mistakes executives make when developing and executing a technology plan. They include poor communication, making assumptions, not understanding a system’s architecture or dependencies, and more. Co-hosts Johna and Jerry draw... Read more »
When choosing vendors, what strategy should you employ: big rock, best-in-breed, or ecosystem? The big rock approach consolidates vendor relationships around a few strategic partners. Best-in-breed focuses on selecting top solutions from various vendors. The ecosystem model combines elements of both. Today’s conversation explores all three models and also highlights the importance of integration, the... Read more »
Should enterprises ditch Microsoft because of security concerns? Microsoft’s numerous vulnerabilities and questionable responses make it a significant risk for continued use. At the same time, Microsoft’s strong integration and utility in enterprise environments make it attractive for continued use. Johna Till Johnson and John Burke debate. They also weigh considerations including the challenges of... Read more »
The evolving role of IT in business is the topic of lively discussion between co-hosts Johna Johnson and John Burke. Johna argues that IT should align with business goals, acting as an executive assistant, while John believes IT should take a proactive leadership role, driving innovation and framing business problems. They explore the challenges IT... Read more »
This is Greg’s last Heavy Strategy episode before he heads off to retirement. He gives us his final pieces of career and life advice, opinions on private equity, and a Cookie Monster quote. We also briefly introduce John Burke, the new Heavy Strategy co-host. Farewell, Greg. Thank you for all the great debates. Episode Transcript... Read more »
Asking questions is a critical skill whether you’re an outside consultant or on an internal IT team. In today’s episode, Greg and Johna review what kind of questions to ask and how to ask them. They discuss the ‘Five Whys,’ identifying points of invariance, discovering unknown unknowns, and watching out for landmines. They also cover... Read more »
To be an effective technologist in a corporation, your efforts need to be aligned with the business strategy of your organization. In today’s episode, Johna and Greg show you how to do this, even if your organization has no written business strategy. They explain how to “read the tea leaves” to tell if your organization... Read more »
Firing the wrong person, mistakenly rebooting core switches in a massive network, not passing the CCIE exam– today we talk all about failure. For this conversation, we’re joined by fellow Packet Pushers Kyler Middleton and Ned Bellavance, hosts of the Day Two Cloud podcast. We swap stories, discuss response and prevention, and talk about accountability,... Read more »
Don’t call it remote work. Today Johna and Greg dive into distributed work– the future where there is no office vs. remote, there are just asynchronistic workers and their computer screens. Leaders have to move beyond “management by walking around” or “onboarding by shadowing.” They need to carefully select their ecosystem of tools (and tools... Read more »
Why are some executives still insisting on Return to Office policies? Does it improve culture and productivity like they swear? Or is it more about the devaluing of a massive asset on their books: Commercial real estate. If the value of commercial real estate drops, companies have less to leverage for loans and– perhaps more... Read more »
Right now we’re in the first generation of edge architecture. We won’t even really know how to define it until we’re past it. Greg and Johna discuss the operational milieu in which the edge is forming: Vast numbers of IoT devices, increased remote computing capabilities, questions around cloud operational costs and efficiency, and vendors jostling... Read more »
Welcome to a crossover episode with the Day Two Cloud podcast! AI has been around forever; AI is emergent. AI is just data analytics; AI hallucinates. AI doesn’t have many business use cases; AI is already being used by your employees. Today, Greg and Johna from the Heavy Strategy podcast join Day Two Cloud to... Read more »
In today’s episode Greg and Johna spar over how, when, and why to regulate AI. Does early regulation lead to bad regulation? Does late regulation lead to a situation beyond democratic control? Comparing nascent regulation efforts in the EU, UK, and US, they analyze socio-legal principles like privacy and distributed liability. Most importantly, Johna drives... Read more »
What does having a tech strategy actually do for an organization? In today’s episode, Greg and Johna highlight how a good tech strategy benefits a company: creates a foundation of first principles, reduces bias in vendor decisions, better allocates human resources, kills bad ideas, sunsets projects, and makes meetings a little more enjoyable and harmonious.... Read more »
Exactly who should be on your technology strategy team? From inside your organization, who should represent the areas that come into play: Business, development, operations, etc? And what about outsiders–what kind of external consultant do you want for your strategy team? Do you even need one? Johna and Greg cover it all in today’s episode.... Read more »
It’s rare for strategists, executives, and technologists to all get on the same page in order to create, execute, and adjust an organization’s tech strategy, much less do it well. But it is possible. Johna and Greg discuss their experiences of seeing through some consultants’ smoke and mirrors, honestly evaluating an organization’s capability to implement... Read more »
AI and automation are hot topics in telco, but not all projects are created equal in terms of the bottom-line value. We dive into how to calculate total value, and discuss why the area of assurance looks set to generate the most value. We provide key questions to ask when considering what AIOps to add... Read more »
Welcome, trailblazers and visionaries! Today, I’m thrilled to unpack a treasure trove of wisdom that zooms into the exhilarating realm of strategy architecture and the craft of sculpting strategy roadmaps on a shoestring budget. The Thrill of Resourcefulness In this episode, my esteemed co-host Johna and I dove headfirst into a challenge that plagues countless... Read more »
Hosts Greg Ferro and Johna Till Johnson reflect on the technological advancements of 2023 and discuss the trends for 2024. In this wide-ranging conversation, they chat about the rise of AI, tech consolidation, and the impact of automation on infrastructure. They also explore the geopolitical impact on supply chains, the move away from Chinese manufacturing,... Read more »
Johna and Greg discuss service-oriented networking and the challenges of defining and delivering network services. They explore the negative impact of siloed organizational structures on service delivery and the importance of continuous adaptation in infrastructure management. They debate the perception of services by users, using metaphors like sidewalks and electricity, and the importance of defining... Read more »
The difference between training and education is signficant and technology industry often conflates these terms. They are vastly different ways to providing learning and we dive into why we need more education and less training.
Powering data centres is big deal in current decade. Massive increases in consumption and scaling of off-prem clouds has exceeded the capacity of civilian power grids while cloud operators are reluctant to sign thirty year supply agreements so that more power plants can be built. Enter power micro-generation where too large DCs needs too small... Read more »
Our conversation begins with an exploration of the concept of cognitive load in relation to platforms. David, despite being an IT professional and not a psychiatrist, brought an intriguing perspective to the table. He emphasized how platforms, such as VMware, Kubernetes, and Cloud Foundry, are designed to remove effort from users, making it easier for... Read more »
Today we debate its technoloyg is reaching a stable phase. Greg argues that we are in a period of stability, citing resistance to change and a slowdown in advancements. Johna believes that the rise of quantum computing and AI will lead to significant disruptions. They also discuss the future of AI and quantum computing, with Johna predicting a transformative impact by 2026, while Greg suggests a slower adoption due to existing heavy investments in technology.
In this podcast episode, Johna and I discuss the concept of technical debt. We provide different definitions of technical debt, with me focusing on the inability to switch solutions easily and Johna emphasizing the trade-off between immediate speed and long-term efficiency. We give examples of technical debt, such as outdated systems and insecure infrastructure, and... Read more »
Taking your feedback and followup and discussing the questions you bring us. Zero Trust Defintions, Out of Band in Zero Trust, Johna and/or Greg is/are insufferable and re-evaluating the Tech Job Debacle with hindsight.
A special guest today, Keith Townsend joins Johna Greg to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of cloud computing compared to on-premises infrastructure. We start by clarifying the definition of cloud and emphasizing the significance of software-defined infrastructure and automation in on-premises data centers. Keith shares his perspective on hybrid infrastructure and making the case for a combination of on-premises and off-premises resources as the future of enterprise IT.
The post HS055 Cloud Is Not The Only Future ? appeared first on Packet Pushers.
Are you interested in learning more about aligning technology choices with organizational goals? Our podcast has got you covered! Listen now to explore the importance of technology alignment with business objectives.
The post HS054 Matching IT and Corporate Culture appeared first on Packet Pushers.
The use of physical infrastructure has changed substantially in the last three years. Data centres are scaling down, offices and branches are being re-considered. One view is that offices are ‘playgrounds’ where white collar workers gather to chat, socialise, drink free coffee and have face-to-face for one or two days a week. An opposing view is that its legacy way of working but it will take time for people to adapt to remote work.
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As technology becomes more critical and vital to companies business leaders are beginning to question the reliability and liability. Insurers now require audits and demand complienace with set practices before issuing a policy. Corporate boards are realising that so-called tech professionals have zero training or professional requirement, consultants have even less and the analysts are […]
The post HS052 Professional Liability and Qualified Design appeared first on Packet Pushers.
Oft-asked question that doesn't have a right answer. We discuss non-convential answers that career coaches or self-help twaddle won't give you.
The post HS051 Things I Wish I’d Known Back When appeared first on Packet Pushers.
Google, Microsoft, Twitter, META/FB and a few others laid off an estimated 200,000 tech and tech-adjacent folks in recent weeks. Other companies like Fedex and Amazon have made layoffs, many impacting the IT teams. What does that mean for the tech industry? Between AI and our corporate overlords are we all lucky to be employed, and should we go back to working 80 hour in-office weeks?
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IT organisations tend towards two strategic approaches - enduring, permanent and susatined. Or short term, consumable and fungible IT.
The post HS049 Evanescent vs Enduring IT appeared first on Packet Pushers.
Many business executives are incompetent scumbags and yet they managed to get the job and get paid serious money. What can technology engineers learn from these fools so that they get the same results aka more money and less work.
The post HS048 Using Personal Product Branding To Be Better Paid Technology Engineer appeared first on Packet Pushers.
What are these roles and how do they fit into a strategy ? Who solves problems, designs solutions, and tests to make sure that’s workable ? How do we create/train people for these roles ? What about professional liability ?
The post HS047: Architect/Engineers/Operations, Career Progression and Liability appeared first on Packet Pushers.
The new geopolitical reality means that China is part of IT Strategy. The supply chain is changing, joint ventures are limited and more.
The post HS046 What Do We Do About China ? appeared first on Packet Pushers.
AIOps is been a buzzword but public generative AI and LLMs like ChatGPT mean there is a lot more awareness and demand. In todays sponsored show we are talking to Vitria about VIA AI Ops and how you can add it to your IT strategy.
The post HS045 Seize Opportunities for Modern IT Operations with VIA (Sponsored) appeared first on Packet Pushers.
So much wasted marketing on Digital Transformation. Was it all bollocks or was there something real underneath the bombast and hype ?
The post HS044 Is Digital Transformation Bollocks ? appeared first on Packet Pushers.
Differences between project (disruption, replacement), service (smooth, continuous) and product (updates, changes) mean that process and people have very different approach to technology management and operations.
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Short answer is yes. Long answer is long. CHatGPT is useful for demonstrating potential and getting more funding for AI. In terms of potential for real work, well, its not good enough.
The post HS0042 Is ChatGPT Coming For Your Job appeared first on Packet Pushers.
We talk a lot about automation and orchestration and how they can change your network strategy and smooth network workflows. But not everybody wants to sit around writing code and building test labs. Greg and Johna talk with Josh Stephens and Chanoch Marmorstein from sponsor BackBox about its network automation software, how it fits into a network operations strategy, and how BackBox focuses on the network engineer.
The post HS041 Intelligent Network Automation With BackBox – Sponsored appeared first on Packet Pushers.
It might be curmudgeon day. Johna and Greg ask what are mistakes that we have seen in technology strategies.
The post HS040 Top Mistakes Technology Strategists Make appeared first on Packet Pushers.
After setting questions and perspectives on What is Enterprise Architecture, the natural sequence is How to Maintain and Operate an Architecture team.
The post HS039 Operating an Enterprise Architecture Function appeared first on Packet Pushers.
Some companies use formal Enterprise Architecture (EA) to maintan a consistent IT strategy. Its not often successful so we discuss possible ways to practically maintain the EA function.
The post HS038 What is Enterprise Architecture And How To Plan For It appeared first on Packet Pushers.
Are there angles on future metaverse that make sensee ? Johna and Greg dive into their perspectives on what is a metaverse and converge on the face that its a form of collaboration. Potentially it could be immersive with VR googles but more likely it’s about engaging data from external domains into the collaboration experience.
The post Heavy Strategy 037 – Metaversing The Office is More Than One Thing appeared first on Packet Pushers.
You can't make a profit from Cybersecurity, its a cost. How do we work with business to see IT risk management on the same level as accounting and human resources ? Johna and Greg discuss various options on market, process and methods that could help you work on your cyber situation.
The post HS036 Cyberstupid – Can We Stop Doing Dumb IT Security appeared first on Packet Pushers.
Whats the deal with Quiet Quitting ? Johna & Greg get into a heated debate about the nature of work. Johna wants people to ‘do your job’, Greg wants ‘pay me more to do more’. How much can a companies expect from their employees as hustle culture is being rejected by more people.
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Should LEO space networks be part of your network ? Are there common questions about using and designing for them ? What should be expecting from your telco ?
The post HS033 Getting real about LEO Space Networking appeared first on Packet Pushers.
Graphiant Stateless Cloud WAN addresses the limitations of SDWAN - better scalability, more flexibility and service guarantees. Their stateless network core is multi-tenant, predictable and scalable. Customers get the benefit of SDWAN with less of the problems. We unpack the details in this episiode with Khalid Raza, Founder and CEO of Graphiant and ask questions to understand how it would fit your strategy.
The post HS034 Introducing Graphiant Stateless Cloud WAN appeared first on Packet Pushers.
Is there a role for career mentors and coaches in modern IT ? We discuss the topic and establish some points. IT Careers are high value and high effort but unlike other professions (such as law or medicine) there are no gatekeepers to working. This leads to training and ‘life coaches’ that are unregulated and often unprofessional.
The post HS032 Mentors and Leadership appeared first on Packet Pushers.
We discuss how Kolide tools engage the user to improve end-point security. Monitoring devices and then contacting the user to gather more information and provide contextual questions is a novel approach.
The post HS031 Kolide and Honest Security appeared first on Packet Pushers.
Both sides of the low code/no code debate. We outline two sides of the debate, discuss four topics in favour of low code and then cover four negatives. Avoidance of toil coding, avoid skill shortage and viable testing are good things. Lockin, shadow IT and ownership are problematic. Its a solid debate on the topic.
The post HS030 Can Low Code Fit Your IT Strategy appeared first on Packet Pushers.
The pro and con's of having preferred supplier for IT technology ? You can save time and effort, simplify purchasing and move quicker but are you getting the best solution and support. We discuss different perspectives on going down the path and point out the subscription pricing moves towards vendor lockin.
The post HS029 Do You Want A Strategic Vendor ? appeared first on Packet Pushers.
We discuss different aspects of selecting technology to buy. Topics include business case, planning, selection, evaluation and review - as you might expect - but we find that there isn't one right answer.
The post HS 028 – Do’s and Don’ts of Selecting Technology Provider appeared first on Packet Pushers.
Cold takes on the Broadcom/VMware acquisition. We consider Broadcom's stated goal to increase VMW profit margin from 35% to 65% and what this will mean to customer experience.
The post HS027 Broadcom and VMware – Whats Gonna Happen ? appeared first on Packet Pushers.
What are the right questions for developing and maintaining a technology strategy for your company ?
The post HS 026 So You Want to Develop A Technology Strategy ? appeared first on Packet Pushers.
Does planning for cybersecurity failure include the concept of 'crime scene' ? Can you provide evidence to an external investigation sufficient to get justice or simply prove to insurance investigator that you met the policy requirements ? Should you be lobbying governments ? How does this drive your cyber spending - defense, microsegmentation, detection or evidence collection ?
The post HS025 Did You Know Your IT is a Crime Scene ? appeared first on Packet Pushers.
Shadow IT does not always lead to bad outcom
The post HS 024 – Is Shadow IT a Good Thing appeared first on Packet Pushers.
What about changing the work we do ? Perhaps with orchestration / automation and even AI ? So many questions, not many answers.
The post HS 023 Horrors and Hurdles of Hybrid Work appeared first on Packet Pushers.
Contracts are caveat emptor but the client often knows little about the what they are buying and why.
The post HS022 Top Mistakes Customers Make Dealing With Vendors appeared first on Packet Pushers.
We start debating the nature of technical debt. What is it, how is it created before moving into solutions. Then we take an unexpected turn into operational debt, why its more important and how software defined has delivered solutions here. Also, we dunk on digital transformation.
The post HS020 Are Operational and Technical Debt Complementary appeared first on Packet Pushers.
Headlines about ‘great resignation’ tend to ignore that people are moving jobs not quitting work. We believe many people are making choices about what work they want in their lives. We discuss four reasons: 1) toxic workplaces 2) lifestyle and remote work 3) downstepping and 4) early retirement. We note that recruiters are toxic arms […]
The post HS021 The Great Realisation Not Great Resignation appeared first on Packet Pushers.
What makes a technology strategy ? Where do you start ? Are you business or solution centric ? Being a leader means risk and funding, being a follower is simpler and faster. What questions should you be asking when establishing an IT strategy ? Heavy Strategy is where the questions are more important than the […]
The post HS019 Questions on Corporate Technology Strategy appeared first on Packet Pushers.
Johna believes that API management is part of IT operations. Greg doesn't understand the question and so we set off in search of answers.
The post HS018 API Management is a Configuration Problem appeared first on Packet Pushers.
The internet has become part of society now and this means that governments will want to put controls on it. Are our standards bodies fit for purpose ?
The post HS017 The Role of Standards in a Conflicted World appeared first on Packet Pushers.
Discussing what might drives team structure in Enterprise IT.
The post HS016 Team Structure for Technology Teams appeared first on Packet Pushers.
With so much money allocated to marketing teams, why do customers find it disagreeable and unpleasant to be a victim of their activities ?
The post HS015: Targeting in IT Marketing – Who and When appeared first on Packet Pushers.
Do you need new hardware to cloud enable your infrastructure ? Should you strategise products on new hardware/greenfield basis or enable your existing brownfield infrastructure ? In this episode we discuss value of enabling existing infrastructure Beware of the vendor goldfield that Greenfield represents Whether supply chain impacts your decisions ? The value of federated […]
The post HS014 Software Defined Infrastructure – New Build or Not ? appeared first on Packet Pushers.
SaaS is popular as a 'not my problem' solution and easy-on-pocket entrè. So lets examine adversarial question "What does the customer lose?". Johna and Greg discuss many issues on both in the search for critical analysis on SaaS and the longer term impacts.
The post HS013 SaaS Solutions – What Does the Customer Lose ? appeared first on Packet Pushers.
A rarely covered topic in technology is professional development. Other careers have extensive programs to ensure practitioners develop and maintain a wide range of skills but this principle is rare in IT.
The post Heavy Strategy 012: Professional Development in Infrastructure Technology appeared first on Packet Pushers.
We discuss what we know so far about supply chain disruption, what impacts to your projects. We also consider resellers/distributors survival and what plans can companies make.
The post HS011 Can We Survive IT Supply Chain Disruption appeared first on Packet Pushers.
When it comes to allocating budget for cybersecurity there are many approaches to breaking it down into line items. We discuss various ideas and possibilities that might offer some insight for your own situation.
The post HS010 Budgeting for Cybersecurity appeared first on Packet Pushers.
How do you measure IT Security ? Specifically, how do you decide to allocate budget and justify the underlying reasoning. Most companies allocate a percentage of IT Budget, but Johna argues differently.
The post HS 009 The Metrics of IT Security appeared first on Packet Pushers.
What five issues would be top of mind for IT architects ? Security, Backup.Recovery, Cloud, Skills Development and Distributed/Hybrid Work. Listen in on why and how these issues are our choices. If you have feedback or want us to followup then head over to our Follow Up page and send us your anonymous (or not) feedback.
The post Heavy Strategy 008: Five Core Issues for IT Architects in 2021 appeared first on Packet Pushers.
Returning to the office is a key issue as companies learn that being "in person" is the new remote working
The post HS007: Distributed Work and Return To Office Strategies appeared first on Packet Pushers.
Some call it subscription but we call it renting your hyper-converged solution. Whats the business and technology strategy of consumption based HCI ?
The post Heavy Strategy 006 – Renting your Hyperconverged Stack, Wrong or Right appeared first on Packet Pushers.
The question: Is open source is viable for Enterprise IT ? The discussion resulted in describing the mechanics of onboarding new products as infection repsonse. Did the metaphor work ?
The post Heavy Strategy 005 – Infection Handling Open Source In Enterprise IT appeared first on Packet Pushers.
Kubernetes is operational not transformational.
The post Heavy Strategy 004 – Is Kubernetes A Thing appeared first on Packet Pushers.
Are DPU's something that you want ? What use cases can be addressed ? What makes them more than a SmartNIC ? How do you consume DPU's in your infrastructure ?
The post Heavy Strategy 003 – The Impact of DPUs, SmartNICs on IT Infrastructure Decision Making appeared first on Packet Pushers.
A topic that’s been popular from my blog is Microsoft is VMware’s biggest threat. The core of the conversation around it seems be about the stack. Does it make sense to outsource private and public cloud engineering to a provider such as Microsoft. An adjacent conversation is does VMware matter when you zoom out of […]
The post Heavy Strategy 002 – Is Microsoft VMware’s Biggest Threat ? appeared first on Packet Pushers.
Greg brings the topic of Hype in 5G Marketing and attempts to explain why some hype is legit but humans should care less. Keith puts the brakes on and provides context, breakdown and reality.
The post HS001 – Detecting Hype in 5G Marketing appeared first on Packet Pushers.
The preamble episode. What is Heavy Strategy ?
The post The Preamble appeared first on Packet Pushers.