Cautious Reflection About “How” We Change

As George Santayana is often quoted, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Since I believe that is true, it is worth looking back at another, less often quoted individual — Melvin Conway. He was a programmer in the 1960s. He wrote an assembler for the Burroughs 220, he wrote a paper on coroutines, but the reason we know him at all, is that he is credited with coining Conway’s Law. Unlike other, so-called “Laws,” Conway’s Law was not intended as a joke, but rather as a valid observation of how real organizations make things.

In 1968, Conway wrote a paper called “How Do Committees Invent?” In it, he wrote:

…organizations which design systems… are constrained to produce designs which are copies of the communication structures of these organizations.

This is more commonly quoted as, “Any development project reflects the organizational structure that produced it.”

As we move forward in an environment of change, it is important that we keep this in mind.

To see how this manifests itself in the real world, please read this blog entry from one of the Vista programmers on how they developed a particular feature for which he was responsible. While you are reading, see if you find any of what he says familiar. If you do, consider that we may need to address those issues ourselves as we try to move forward.

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Link Layer Discovery Protocol

We have had some conversations lately over the use of link layer protocols to discover the local network topology. Specifically, some of our devices attempt to identify their neighbors using Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP). Other devices do not understand the protocol and propagate these link layer packets. Depending on the size of the network, this may be causing problems. It turns out that we are not the only ones to have this issue and the industry has been addressing the issue by standardizing a Link Layer Discover Protocol (LLDP) in IEEE 802.1AB. In addition, the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) has created an enhancement called Media Endpoint Discovery. This enhancement addresses Voice over IP (VoIP) deployment and troubleshooting issues.

References

A. Bierman and K. Jones, ‘Physical Topology MIB’, The Internet Engineering Task Force Request For Comments Repository (September 2000) <http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2922.txt> [accessed Tuesday, April 3, 2007]

IEEE Computer Society LAN/MAN Standards Committee, ‘IEEE Std 802.1AB^TM-2005 — Station and Media Access Control Connectivity Discovery’, IEEE Standard for Local and metropolitan area networks (6 May 2005) <http://standards.ieee.org/getieee802/download/802.1AB-2005.pdf> [accessed Tuesday, April 3, 2007]

Telecommunications Industry Association, ‘Link Layer Discovery Protocol for Media Endpoint Devices’, TIA Standards, Telecommunications, IP Telephony Infrastructure (April 6, 2006) <http://www.tiaonline.org/standards/technology/voip/documents/ANSI-TIA-1057_final_for_publication.pdf> [accessed Tuesday, April 3, 2007]

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Information for visitors

I work for the Pennsylvania State University in Telecommunications and Networking Services, a unit of Information Technology Services. If you are planning to visit, you might want to look at some maps of the campus. If you are concerned about the weather, you might want to make sure we have not had a school closing before you visit. You might also want to make sure we are not out on a staff holiday. If you need to find me, you should look at my current directory entry. If you need to contact anyone else, you can look them up in our directory as well.

If you need a place to stay you might want to try the Penn Stater or the Nittany Lion Inn.

You can read about what is happening on campus in the student newspaper or through Penn State Live. On your way in, you might want to listen to our local public radio station.

If you need some entertainment while you are in town, you might want to see what is playing at the Bryce Jordan Center or the Center for the Performing Arts. If you want to catch a game, you might want to check out what is happening in Penn State Athletics. If you are more of the outdoor type you might want to spend some time at the Shaver's Creek Environmental Center or the Stone Valley Recreation Area or you might even hike Mount Nittany. If you are more of the "long hair" type, you might want to take a stroll through the Palmer Museum of Art. If you are going to be here during the month of August, you might want to try to catch Ag Progress Days.

Of course, no trip to Penn State would be complete without a visit to the new Berkey Creamery where you can sample a few of the approximately 110 flavors of ice cream that the food science students make from the milk from the university's 175-cow herd.

If you are interested in taking a few classes, you might want to see what Penn State Continuing Education is offering or you could take a few classes over the Internet - even get an MBA - through the Penn State World Campus.

If you need some computer hardware or software you can visit the showroom of Penn State's Computer Store or even order it online. If you need some books, clothing, or souvenirs of your visit, you can stop by the Penn State Bookstore.

If, after looking at all of this, you decide you want to join us working here at Penn State, you might want to take a look at our job opportunities.

The University Libraries provide access to many of their resources through the Library Information Access System (LIAS).

If you think you need a workout, you can get a Recreational Sports Fitness membership.

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