I recently gave a 13-minute talk to the Irish Network Operators Group (INOG).  In this talk I argue that you can become more effective, and a happier engineer by standing back and reflecting. The talk discusses how you work –  with reference to some great truths, principles and fallacies.

I introduce The twelve networking truths and the 8 Fallacies of Distributed Computing. I then describe a handful of my own learnings and fancy terms like Chesterton’s Fence and the Gordian Knot.

Check out the video folks, I’d love your feedback.


I was quite nervous preparing for the talk, but I know myself well enough by now to recognise these small fears as opportunities. This is the same fear I faced when I started this blog.

This isn’t false modesty, I’ve done talks before in Amazon and survived, but I was still very nervous. Still, it took me hours of consideration, planning and preparation in addition to a fair bit of anxiety.

I got a real buzz from doing the talk and overcoming the fear. Upon reviewing the video, I know I’ve got a few things to work on. But, by facing a small fear, I’m now slighter better at public speaking and a more likely to do it again in the future.

If you live near Dublin I strongly recommend a trip to an iNOG meet-up.