There Are No Straight Lines
By Jeff Finkelstein
For those who have been following my column on a regular basis, you may remember a few articles talking about new technologies on the horizon. Just when you think it is safe to get into the technology water, up pops a new technology that confuses things. In the Spring 2017 issue of Broadband LibraryI wrote an article on shiny object syndrome (SOS) about how the rapid pace of new technology may causes analysis paralysis and the need for a North Star to guide us. Here we are yet again being blinded by the light shining off of the latest YANT (yet another new technology) to hit the media spotlight.
Of course I’m talking about DOCSIS 4.0. Now that DOCSIS 4.0 has been shown outside a few of us folks that have been working on it, we find ourselves with an interesting conundrum. Just as I have been writing about the importance of having a North Star on our technology roadmaps, we are now in a position to put theory into practice. I am not going to spend much time in this article talking about the features and importance of DOCSIS 4.0 to our industry (I will save those topics for future articles), but did want to quickly touch on what it may mean to cable.
In my opinion and with all hyperbole aside, it may be one of the most important transformations developed for cable in a long time. The reconciliation of two significant and transformational technologies, full duplex DOCSIS (FDX) and extended spectrum DOCSIS (ESD), provides a singular roadmap for cable operators, chip makers, and integrators, to have a long and healthy life for many years meeting the needs of our customers. Not only do we have a way to increase upstream capacity in the near term with FDX, we can use it in a variety of ways. Whether you need it in a passive N+0 plant, N+X using an FDX amplifier, or N+X with a static configuration, there are options available for most OSP designs in production.
With the upcoming release of DOCSIS 4.0 we have FDX and ESD working together up to 1.8 GHz, a dramatic increase in both upstream and downstream capacity that helps us realize the first phase of the 10G vision. DOCSIS 4.0 has the long-term potential for much more. I can imagine the day when it will support a downstream of 3 GHz and upstream for FDX up to 1 GHz. We will no longer be talking about our 10G vision, it will be talking about our 25G vision.
As I said in my first Broadband Libraryarticle and have been saying for years, I believe cable not only has a long life, it has a long useful life.
I don’t speak for others, but I love technology. I enjoy thinking about it, pondering what services consumers will likely want to use in years to come, how we can transform the technologies we have available to meet the need, or even what we can do to create new technologies that will meet current and future needs.
That is what I and others do for a living. We think outside the box, but hopefully never forget there is a box. The box I am referring to is that no matter how great a technology seems, it still has to be deployed. As difficult as coming up with a forward leaning technology is to we futurists, it is a small effort compared to those who have to deploy and maintain it.
Which brings me to the essence of my article. As Phil McKinney, President and CEO of CableLabs, said so well, ideas without execution are a hobby, and we are not in the hobby business.
So here are my seven steps to executing the deployment of new technologies.
- Focus on technologies needed to execute your strategies
While technology is fun and cool, it cannot exist in a vacuum. What you need first is a technology and product strategy. Without a strategic vision, all you have is a series of technological advancements with no direction. Technologies can be a maze of twisty little passages all alike, if we do not have clarity around the problem to be solved. Yes, we can produce a technology that can find a problem to solve, but it is much more efficient (and fun) to have a clearly defined problem first.
- Tell a story and make it a compelling story
I developed and teach a class at Cox on innovation. Not how to innovate, but how to pitch your innovation. To get into the class you have to submit an idea you have been thinking about for solving a problem you have encountered. Once accepted you come to the class and learn how to sell your idea to executives.
Think about this: How often do you get a call, email, text, hit up on LinkedIn, from someone who says that their product will solve all your problems, teach the cat to use the toilet, take out the trash, grow hair on your head, and make you more attractive to the opposite sex? If it’s like me, it is probably daily or even multiple times a day. At what point did this become an acceptable form of communication? Telling someone you can solve all their problems, but at no time did you actually ask what their problems are about?
That specific point is a key part of selling that is lost on many. It reminds me of a very funny Harlem Globetrotters bit with Meadowlark Lemon stumbling around after a fall holding his arm screaming in pain. When the referee comes over and massages his arm, Meadowlark screams out “it’s not my arm, it’s my leg.”
All it takes is some upfront communication to get clarity on the problem that needs to be solved.
- Where are we today, is the new tech better than the status quo, and are we willing to change?
Before we can get folks to buy into our latest, greatest, coolest technology, we need to ask ourselves these three questions. If you don’t know what you have currently deployed, how many, and where, you don’t understand the challenges facing those who will deploy your beloved technology. If we haven’t spent time thinking about whether and how our new technology is better than what we do today, you have little chance of it being mainstream. Lastly, you have to know the tolerance of those you are pitching on your latest technology to change. You need to cross off all boxes for your technology to make it into the toolbox and be available for deployment.
- Training and security are built in from the start
Typically the last things we think about are training those who will deploy and lifecycle manage a new technology, and the potential security implications of our latest brainstorm. If you ever come to my office you would see almost every writable surface with scribbling on it. I am a firm believer, and teach it in my innovation class as well, that all ideas are bad ideas until they become good ideas. You need to write everything down and reduce it later to the art of the possible. As part of that process you need to bounce it off those who understand the nuances of direct or indirect relationships to other areas of the business. You should not only pull in those most affected by the problem, but those on the periphery. That includes training and security. Don’t wait until after the fact as I’ve done far too often. Start with the end in mind, and that end is folks who will be deploying it who were not involved in its creation. Getting them involved at the start makes the latter parts of the journey much simpler and more fun.
- Deployment model must be integrated into change management
Many of us *cringe* at the thought of change management. As innovators it’s easy to do since we don’t typically get involved in the full lifecycle of technologies being deployed. In my 33 years in cable I spent 20 years deploying technologies and managing the operational aspects of it once deployed. As often as I got frustrated with our change management team, I learned to appreciate them for their methodical approach to deployment and full lifecycle management. Today as an innovator I am thankful for others who think much more tactically and can help prepare the way for my latest ideas to get into production.
I’ve learned the hard way that innovators typically make lousy operations engineers and even worse, change managers. We need them much more than they need us. Be sure to thank them every chance you get.
- Use governance to manage and lead deployment
The advent of governance organizations has made the life of innovators even simpler. Once our change management teams have the deployment models ready, it is the responsibility of the governance teams to track that the deployments are on track. After spending a lot of time with our governance teams I can state it is an extremely difficult job, literally impossible for folks like me whose brains are not wired that way. The variables for tactical, technological, and staffing challenges are immense. As innovators most of us do not think along the same neural paths as change managers and governance teams. We need to support them in the journey, not vice-versa.
- It’s about the journey, not just the destination
And lastly, you need to remember to enjoy the journey. Don’t just stop to smell the roses, make sure others take the time to do the same. In the heat of deployment challenges, we still need to take a look around and be grateful for those working so hard to get things done. There are always going to be many corporate antibodies telling us why something won’t work, but there will also be many who will support our insane ideas and help us make them even better. Understanding the difference is critical to the success of technological advances, but also to everyone’s enjoyment of the process.
A key part of the journey is that there is no one way to get there. As we create new technologies, many believe that they are all-knowing, all-seeing, all-wise. How often have you heard someone say, “you are doing it all wrong, do it the way I tell you”? As innovators do not criticize someone about their understanding of your technology until you have walked a mile in their shoes. Then you can criticize because you will now be a mile away. And have their shoes.
Jeff Finkelstein
Executive Director of Advanced Technology
Cox Communications
Jeff.Finkelstein@cox.com
Jeff Finkelstein is the Executive Director of Advanced Technology at Cox Communications in Atlanta, Georgia. He has been a key contributor to the engineering organization at Cox since 2002, and led the team responsible for the deployment of DOCSIS® technologies, from DOCSIS 1.0 to DOCSIS 3.0. He was the initial innovator of advanced technologies including Proactive Network Maintenance, Active Queue Management and DOCSIS 3.1. His current responsibilities include defining the future cable network vision and teaching innovation at Cox. Jeff has over 43 patents issued or pending. His hobbies include Irish Traditional Music and stand-up comedy.
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