Modernizing Network Ops in a Post-Cowboy World – CTO Advisor Podcast with Guest Scott Robohn
In this special CTO Advisor Podcast episode, Keith Townsend sits down with Scott Robohn, founder of Tech Sales Craft and co-founder of the Network Automation Forum, for a timely conversation recorded live during GTC week in San Jose — but not at GTC. The duo dive deep into the evolution of network operations and why enterprises must stop treating network automation as an afterthought.
Scott shares insights from his consulting work and upcoming visit to a university looking to modernize its network operations. The central theme? It’s time for networking to mature beyond the cowboy culture of the past 25 years. With architectures stabilizing and gear costs dropping, the real opportunity for impact lies in how teams operate and automate.
Scott and Keith explore the need for templatization and treating network configs like software — version-controlled, testable, and scalable. They draw parallels between software engineering practices and what networking can borrow from DevOps, including CI/CD pipelines, Git repos, and standardized config patterns.
AI inevitably enters the chat, as Keith probes how automation tooling and AI intersect in network ops. Scott brings clarity to the conversation, advocating for combining templatized configurations with both rule-based and AI-driven automation — especially for enterprises looking to scale without scaling headcount.
They also touch on the human side of transformation: the skill gap, the need for ops teams to “participate in their own rescue,” and the importance of engaging in forums like the upcoming Network Automation Forum event in Prague.
If you’re a network engineer wondering what’s next or a director of infrastructure feeling the pressure to modernize without breaking things, this episode is for you.
- Why it’s time to ditch snowflake network configurations
- How network ops can leverage software engineering principles
- Where AI fits in your automation journey
- Why ops needs a seat at the architecture table
- And how to start the modernization journey without getting left behind
💡 Also featured: The Total Network Operations podcast on Packet Pushers, Scott’s platform for operator-first conversations and vendor empathy-building.
🔗 Links in the show notes: Network Automation Forum, Total Network Operations, and more Packet Pushers content.
