I was reading a Reddit thread bashing Cisco today. It’s a few months old. Some of the commentary is fair enough. Some of it might be a bit unfair. But I do think all vendor execs should spend time reading customer Reddit threads to understand how they’re perceived and what they can do better. […]
Category: Reflections
Legacy language
The spambots who regularly read my blog know that I have a fascination with language, and have a background in linguistics. So, I’m always fascinated by language and how we use it. This post is a bit pointless, but amusing (perhaps only to me). In my last post I mentioned I might file a bug […]
My years in management: Looking forward
As of December, my role at Cisco has transitioned from a leadership role back to an individual contributor. Gone are the constant approval emails; gone is the stack ranking of employees; gone are the performance reviews and the one-on-ones. It’s both relieving and eerily quiet. As I make this transition back, after nearly eight […]
Why I am not an FBI Agent
Some years back I wrote a post poking fun at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, based on an experience I had at a briefing in their office. The funny thing is–and this did not color my article– there was a point in my life when I badly wanted to be an FBI agent. Back in […]
HPE Buys Juniper
In 2007, I left Cisco after two brutal years in high-touch TAC. I honestly hated the job, but it was an amazing learning experience. I draw on my TAC experience every single day. A buddy of mine got a job at a Gold Partner, offered to bring me in, and I jumped on the opportunity. […]
Goodbye, Building K
I haven’t written anything for a while, because of the simple fact that I had nothing to say. The problem with being a writer is that sometimes you have nothing to write. I also have a day job, and sometimes it can keep me quite busy. Finally, an afternoon drive provided some inspiration. There’s a […]
The War on Expertise
Like many network engineers, I quickly fell in love with my field and worked hard to master it. I got into networking when I was working in desktop support. The behind-the-scenes stuff was way more interesting to me than the front lines. Back in the late nineties, I bought a library of books to learn […]
Cleared for nothing
I wrote this post on Feb 20, 2020, and I always thought it was an entertaining episode. FBI Special Agent Elvis Chan, who features prominently in the post, has been in the news lately as he played a major role in the Twitter Files. I will stay out of politics, except to note that Elvis […]
Plain Language
I don’t know about the rest of the world, but here in America our police speak in a sort of code language. Instead of saying “he got out of the car and walked away,” the police will say, “the subject exited the vehicle and proceeded on foot.” It’s not that their language is any clearer–in […]
Dear Diary
My blogging has been a little slow of late. First there was Cisco Live. Then there was the post-Cisco Live slump of not wanting to do anything. Then there was the Cisco’s fiscal year-end crunch along with some very hot projects. Then there was the departure of one of our key execs, and subsequent excitement. […]