Radia Perlman: You’re Solving the Wrong Problem

Radia Perlman: You’re Solving the Wrong Problem

From The Art of Network Engineering by Andy and Friends

March 25, 2026 · 1h 1m

About this episode

Radia Perlman discusses the misconceptions in networking and the importance of understanding the right problems to solve.

What if the biggest problem in networking is that we’re solving the wrong one? In this episode of The Art of Network Engineering, Andy and Lexie sit down with Radia Perlman, one of the most influential figures in networking history and the inventor of Spanning Tree Protocol. This conversation goes far beyond protocols and configurations. Radia shares how networking evolved, through constraints, tradeoffs, and human decisions, and why so much of what we learn today is incomplete without unders...

People in this episode

Hosts: Andy, Lexie

Guest: Radia Perlman

Topics covered

  • networking
  • protocols
  • evolution
  • tradeoffs
  • human decisions

Keywords

  • networking
  • Spanning Tree Protocol
  • evolution
  • tradeoffs
  • human decisions

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