Automation objectives, strategy and plan
Introduction
To increase chances of having a well working automation organization, fundamental components such as objectives, strategy and a plan are suggested be structured and shared among the executing team (the Automation group). This section will go through what each component is, why it is important and how one could go about developing/defining them. Examples will aslo be shared. It is important to decide when to focus on these topics and when it comes to a more structured approach (like described below) the Expand and Operationalize steps are suitable.
One could wonder why this should not have been done already in the Getting started phase. The short answer is that the Define, Demonstrate and Deploy steps combined should not take more than three months (for the first use case). The objectives with the chosen use case should be well known before work starts. The strategy is to focus on a small viable use case and to get that one into deployment as quick as possible. The plan should therefore be pretty straight forward and extra time spent on structure a detailed plan, strategy and objective statement should not steal focus from the development. Having a skilled and experienced Automation Core Team that know what to focus on despite not having a detailed plan to follow is therefore expected and critical for success.
The automation director is accountable for objectives, strategy and plan, and it is suggested that the Automation Core Team is deeply involved when developing all three areas.
Network automation objectives
Setting clear objectives with the network automation initiative is a good way to define what the targets are for the Automation group and what the focus will be for coming months/year. The objectives should reflect the vision.
Approach for setting objectives
There are many approaches for defining objectives and lots of literature explaining different models for how to define good objectives. An example of a usable approach for defining objectives is the S.M.A.R.T method. This model, in short, says that every objective should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time related. We believe this model is both pragmatic and serves its purpose of defining good objectives - therefore we recommend it.
Defining objectives might seem like an easy and straight forward task. However, because they are a central piece of the entire network automation journey there will be many opinions and as many interpretations. Therefore it is important to set aside enough time and make sure that the Automation Core Team agrees on the objectives. When the organization expands, it is critical that the team members in the larger Automation group are aware and understand their part in reaching the objectives. Below is a commitment curve that can be useful to reflect upon, when it comes to what level of commitment that is necessary for respective group when it comes to objectives. Normally managers need to be on a higher level in the commitment curve compared to team members. To read more about the commitment curve, please see the section about Stakeholder management.
Examples of potential objectives with network automation
- Increase quality of the network
- Decrease time to spin up new devices
- Decrease number of manual steps in maintenance processes
- Free up valuable resources
- Reduce cost for maintaining the network
- Decrease time to provision new services
Being able to efficiently measure the objectives is central and setting up different types of report cards could be a way to keep track of them. Please read more about Key performance indicators and reporting in the section Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
Network automation strategy
Strategy is a broad term used in many ways, meaning and describing different things to audiences in various industries. In the network automation context, the network automation strategy's purpose is to answers how the automation group will reach its objectives. Below is a picture describing the concept of vision, objectives, strategy and plan where it is highlighted where the strategy part fits in. To understand more about vision statement, please look at that specific section.
Worth mentioning is that the overall strategy, for organizations that are about to invest in network automation, and that the Cisco Network Automation Delivery Model tries to point out is to: Start small, and incrementally learn, deliver value and grow.
The purpose of having a network automation strategy
Establish and keep focus on how to achieve the agreed objective(s) Create understanding for how the Automation group plans to reach its objectives (to both internal and external stakeholders)
Approach for building the automation strategy
In order to build a solid network automation strategy, the objectives for the Automation group need to be defined and agreed upon. Without the objectives, the strategy (the "how") will be a shot in the dark.
Network Automation strategy best practices and perspectives
To simplify, the automation strategy could be divided into two areas; the technology domain and the organizational domain. The technology domain focuses on the pure technical areas of the strategy. An example:
| Domain | Objective (what) | Strategy (how to do it) |
|---|---|---|
| Technology | Decrease time to provision new services | Implement automated tests and CI/CD pipeline |
| Organizational | Automate use case x | Build internal capability to automate use case X |
Examples of best practices for technical and organizational strategies
Technology domain
- Focus on rapidly building a small MVP use case in deployment
- Implement automated tests and CI/CD pipeline
- Use test and staging environments
Organizational domain
- Initially focus on building an autonomous core team with NSO, network and software development competencies
- Continuously involve stakeholders along the entire journey
- Form a network automation core team to make technical decisions
- Align automation plan with broader company plans and decision points
- Have someone responsible for overall quality, as well as CI/CD and testing
The plan
The plan is a set of actions and activities that are structured and distributed over time to fulfil the objectives. The plan uses the strategy statement in order to define how to perform the tasks, when, and by who. Depending on how the reporting structure is defined a plan can be organized on a yearly, quarterly, monthly or weekly basis. It is suggested to focus on short term plans (months) rather than long term plans (years). The reason for this is that the network automation type of work and activities require an agile way of working and planning too far ahead will increase the risk of spending more time on replanning than actually executing valuable tasks.
This plan section should not be mixed up with Backlog or Roadmap which strictly refers to software development items. Rather, this plan contains technical and organizational actions/activities to drive the Automation group's work forward. Some examples:
Conduct a RACI analysis to identify and handle stakeholders
- Map all addressable new networks being built
- Deploy use case X
- Train new team members in NSO
- Identify new use cases to automate
Worth mentioning is that the planning effort should not be time consuming in the Define, Demonstrate and Deploy steps, rather this type of work should get formalized when a program manager/project lead is involved. The plan should be in such shape that it also brings value to stakeholders who require understanding of ways of working and the plan forward for the Automation group.
Vision to plan - a descriptive example
| Step | Action |
|---|---|
| Vision | All network transactions fully automated |
| Objectives | All new deployed networks automated by NSO Increased quality by 30% in our network operations 50% time decrease when activating new devices |
| Strategy | Start small and incrementally learn, deliver value and grow |
| Plan | Q1
Q2 Q3 Q4 |
Best practices
- Structure the network automation strategy according to the defined objectives
- The automation strategy should support the overall company strategy and business objectives
- Socialize objectives and strategy with stakeholders and senior management
- When creating the plan, focus on next six coming months that the next two years
Checklist
- The Automation core team has been deeply involved in defining objectives, strategy and plan
- The team members in the Automation group understand the objectives and how their individual and teamwork contributes to reach the targets
- Team members understand the core of the network automation strategy