Chris Grundemann

The Network Intelligence Blueprint

~Chris — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 17:50:56 +0000

Documentation isn't a prerequisite you have to suffer through before the interesting work begins. It's how the interesting work becomes possible. To unlock faster troubleshooting, security hygiene, automation at scale, AI-driven operations, and new service velocity; you must first build an accurate, current, comprehensive understanding of the network.

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Damn the Man. Save the Empire.

~Chris — Sat, 14 Mar 2026 19:26:02 +0000

Saturday mornings. After-school TV. The video store. A specific window — roughly 1985 to 1995 — when the entertainment aimed at kids like me was saturated with a single, potent worldview: institutions are corrupt or incompetent, authority figures are obstacles at best and villains at worst, cleverness beats power, and the only loyalty that actually matters is to your crew.

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The Intelligent Network Mandate

~Chris — Sat, 07 Mar 2026 00:05:02 +0000

The intelligent network isn't something you evaluate anymore. Parts of it are already operating in your competitors' environments. The question isn't whether your network operations will transform, it's whether you drive that transformation or respond to someone else's.

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Networking Silicon That Thinks for Itself

~Chris — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 20:28:56 +0000

Xsight Labs is a fabless semiconductor company founded in 2017, with about 260 people, $440M raised, and, critically, two chips actually shipping today. Their X2 is a 12.8T Ethernet switch, and their E1 is an 800G DPU. Both chips claim to be truly software-defined, open, and programmable without performance compromises.

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May the Flow be with You – 2026 Edition

~Chris — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 23:56:02 +0000

With this new, less deluded self-image combined with a pursuit of slow productivity, I set off into 2026. To keep me on track throughout this next revolution (around the sun), I will focus on three words: Flow, Family, and Friends.

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2025: Dispelling Delusion

~Chris — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 16:11:14 +0000

It turns out that honest acceptance is a stronger foundation than fantastic lies. You can never truly love anything that you don't see clearly - including yourself.

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The Perpetual Pursuit of Human Uniqueness

~Chris — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 01:10:39 +0000

What centuries of distinguishing ourselves from nature can teach us about distinguishing ourselves from machines... I clicked the checkbox. "I'm not a robot." A machine asked me to prove I wasn't a machine, and I complied without thinking. The absurdity didn't hit me until later; sitting in traffic, still half-processing some AI announcement I'd read ...

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Stop Trying to Solve Network Automation – Start Understanding It

~Chris — Tue, 13 Jan 2026 02:39:48 +0000

I spent most of my twenties trying to eliminate uncertainty from my life. Does that make it ironic that I am now promoting systems thinking in network automation? At first, network engineering was perfect for smothering myself in certainty. Protocols are deterministic. Standards are concrete. BGP does what BGP does, every time, according to rules ...

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Organizational Design: It’s Not the Chart, It’s the Habits

~Chris — Fri, 15 Aug 2025 20:43:24 +0000

I was deep into reading Team Topologies when I stumbled across a quote from Mike Rother's Toyota Kata that stopped me cold: "The roots of Toyota's success lies not in its organizational structures but in developing capability and habits in its people." My first reaction? This seemed to directly challenge everything Team Topologies advocates; the ...

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Why the AI Bubble Is Actually Good News

~Chris — Thu, 31 Jul 2025 19:50:12 +0000

Is there an AI bubble? OBVIOUSLY. Is that a bad thing? Inquiring minds want to know. I recently read "The Hater's Guide To The AI Bubble" by Ed Zitron and while he shares a LOT of anecdotal insights, I think he's missing crucial historical context that changes how we should interpret these developments. Why? Well, ...

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Why You Should Host a RIPE Atlas Probe

~Chris — Sun, 13 Jul 2025 17:01:55 +0000

I just got an email from RIPE NCC that made me smile. It was a "birthday" message for my RIPE Atlas probe – celebrating 12 years of continuous operation with an impressive 89.69% uptime. Along with the congratulations came over 10 million credits to spend on custom measurements! Not a bad return on investment for ...

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Introducing Khadga Consulting

~Chris — Fri, 09 May 2025 19:25:16 +0000

Unlocking the Full Potential of Network Infrastructure The quote I've been returning to lately is "slow is smooth, smooth is fast." It comes from the Navy SEALs, and it resonates deeply with where I find myself in 2025. After spending much of my life rushing—harried by anxiety I didn't even recognize—I've decided to slow the ...

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Death and Decision Making

~Chris — Mon, 05 May 2025 19:03:32 +0000

A couple of weeks ago, my wife and I faced a decision that every technology executive knows intimately: choosing between two paths when both could lead to disaster, armed with incomplete information and running out of time. Our cat, Mister Pickles, was dying. The immediate decision seemed binary: fight for his life or help him ...

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