[HamWAN PSDR] Service Impact Notice

[Ed Morin]

Rob (and all),

I apologize for the length of this e-mail and encourage any who are
interested to grab a beverage of their preference and maybe give a listen
when you can...  ;-)

It was funny to me that as I was reading your proposed overview of ideas on
how to improve on HamWAN's reliability through a culture shifted towards
(essentially) keeping "development" out of the "production" network core, I
was thinking "yes, and ..." and as I continued reading, you were already
ahead and literally wrote what I had been thinking.  So, I would say
"Hear!  Hear!" because as one who is essentially representing the emcomm
community here, I could not agree more.  A few "high-up" folks in the City
of Redmond was totally jazzed about HamWAN and said "we want that," but to
really deliver on the "unsaid expectations" behind such statements it is
imperative to have a culture and mindset along the lines of what you are
suggesting.

Years ago, I started and built the ISP Northwest Nexus and that was EXACTLY
our philosophy.  Indeed, we explained it to an advertising agency so they
could come up with some appropriate ideas for promoting our service.  The
campaign we went with -- our most successful over the years we operated
before being acquired -- had the tagline "When reliability just isn't
negotiable." with the picture of a bungee jumper in mid-dive (I think
inspired by us talking about customers relying on our "link" to the net
being "solid infrastructure" -- the rope attached to a solid structure as
it were -- with backup generators, monitoring, etc.).  That's the mindset
of folks in emcomm.

My guess -- again I'm a newcomer here -- is that there are some that are
striving for that and some who, in the grand tradition of amateur radio,
are keen on experimenting with the technology and advancing the "art" as it
were.  Both are needed -- as you point out.  My perception is the HamWAN
organization isn't huge -- a handful of dedicated enthusiasts who have done
really well implementing something of real value to both the ham community
as well as to the community in general.

Over the decades of my experience in the high-tech industry I have found
that organizations go through (speaking very broadly) three phases of
growth:  1) the "scramble" to "get something up and running or to market,"
2) the "bringing order out of chaos" where some organization is
accomplished to solidify the foundation upon which to build -- what I
believe you are essentially proposing, and 3) the "ongoing operations"
based on well-defined processes and procedures that are adhered to with
discipline.

It is a fact (well, my observations) that people "cut out" for one phase
are much less enthusiastic about having much to do with the other phases.
Folks thriving in phase 1 -- the creative innovators -- sometimes even
abhor the discipline of phase 3 feeling "shackled" and "confined."  One of
my biggest challenges was helping folks grow with the organization in ways
that supported its continued success and retained them and the value of
their contribution.  People necessarily had to be flexible and move into
roles appropriate for "who they were" without feeling marginalized or
sidelined.  Indeed, both functions that you have outlined are *critical* to
the growth and ongoing success of any organization.  One extreme example of
this was the creation of Bell Labs, but I digress...

I think the biggest, most realistic and doable, "next steps" that the
HamWAN organization could take would be to: 1) adopt and agree on a culture
of organizational discipline to maintain a safe segregation (as much as
possible anyway) between the "operational" vs. the "developmental" portions
of the network; and 2) formally designate which portions of the network are
considered "in production" and treat them accordingly (priority for
restoration after failure, etc.).

The church I attend has an espresso bar and while all the beverages are
technically free, there are "suggested donations" for each that are for
familiar amounts.  I do not think it unreasonable to suggest that
organizations that are linking to HamWAN *FOR* the reliability it promises
strongly consider making an on-going (e.g. annual) donation to help with
the on-going development of the network both in coverage *and* robustness.
Even an up-front contribution would, of course, be totally reasonable.  I'm
not saying that HamWAN should be some sort of "business" per se, but to
consider "taking a page or two" out of the playbooks of successful
organizations -- both for-profit as well as non-profit.  I think HamWAN's
success would blosome and be a model for many other areas.  The foundation
has been started with good standards of equipment and design -- phase 1 if
you will -- being open to an intentional move towards a phase 2 would be a
Good Thing.

Just my $0.02 adjusted for inflation -- YMMV...  ;-)

-Ed (WB7UBD)
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