Dave,
I couldn't agree more, notably on the SDO expansion, overlap and scope creep! This is costing our industry dollars that we can't afford and time that we absolutely can't afford. I think the IETF risks being a victim of its own success (and I'm a great supporter of the IETF's governance model and we need to do more to recognise those that manage that model) - I share your concern around OSS and SDO's and I would like to see more solutions being developed along side the standard, I would argue that there is a balance between how projects like opendaylight and SDO's like IETF function that needs to be found and would reinforce your point that there is much to be gained by bringing those communities together to collaborate more often. I have an analogy that I best share over a beer! :)

If I reflect on I think my most productive engagement with Cisco was when we focused on what the customer need was, threw the standards out and just got on with making the network do what the customer wanted, then went back and drove standardisation - I'd love to see a return to that model rather than wait two years for the solution but its a complex and risky process.

If nothing else the cycle time in SDO's urgently needs to be addressed.