Network Warrior

Chapter 37. GAD's Maxims

Maxim #1

Over the years I've been in the industry, it has become apparent to me that there are certain driving forces in the IT universe. These forces are evident in just about all aspects of life, but their application is never more evident than it is in IT.

In every situation where an engineer does not get to do what she wants to do—or worse, in her eyes, to do what she believes is right—these forces come into play. I believe that if more people understood them, there would be less conflict between engineers and their superiors.

The driving forces of network design are summarized here:

• Politics

• Money

• The right way to do it

  Tip

  GAD's Maxim #1: Network designs are based on Politics, Money, and The right way to do it—in that order.

Figure 37-1 shows it all in a nutshell. The idea is simple, really. Engineers want to "do it the right way," which is usually considered best practice. To do whatever it is "the right way," money will be required. To get money, someone will have to be adept at politics. To put it another way, if you want to do it the right way, you need money, and the only way to get money is through politics. I can hear your voices in my head as you read this, groaning, "I hate politics." The truth is, you don't hate politics—you hate dirty politics. There is a distinct difference between the two.

Figure 37-1. GAD's three rules of network design

Let's take ...