More Cloud Lessons from the Bear

In my previous blog, I looked at what Winnie the Pooh had to teach wannabe Cloud vendors; but the 'Bear of Very Little Brain' has much to teach us all and not just vendors. 

Although Pooh has a wide range of diverse interests, it is probably fair to say that somewhere near the top of list is Food. 

So it is a day very much like today, that we find Pooh walking through the forest humming a little hum to himself when he comes upon a hole. A master of logical and linear reasoning; a hole means Rabbit and Rabbit is Company; and Company means Food! 

So after a rather hearty elevenses, Pooh decides that he better be off (truth be known, Rabbit had run out of Food) and it is at that point he discovers a problem. Unfortunately, the consumption of elevenses has resulted in a unplanned expansion in the girth area and when attempting to leave Rabbit's hole; he becomes stuck. After pushing and pulling by Rabbit, there is a stressful moment where Pooh blames Rabbit for not having a bit enough front door and Rabbit blames Pooh for not knowing when to stop eating.

After more pushing and pulling with all of Pooh's friends getting involved; Christopher Robin comes to the conclusion, that the only solution to the problem is time and allowing Pooh slim down over time. Eventually Pooh is freed to wander the 100 Acre Wood again.

Now as a potential user of the Cloud, there are lessons to be learnt from this:

1. When Pooh went for a walk, he did not intend to stop at Rabbit's for elevenses; it was a very opportunistic snack. Many users of the Cloud will end up using the Cloud in a very similar manner. It seems a great idea at the time.
2. Pooh did not check with Rabbit how much Food he had and eventually consumed it all. How many people know what the limits of the Cloud are? It may appear to be infinite but is it? Will the cupboard be bare at some point.
3. Pooh easily got into Rabbit's home because he was less weighty at that point, when he came to leave, he had expanded some what and had not accounted the limited size of egress. It is easy for a Cloud application to generate a large amount of data and getting that data out of the Cloud may be harder than you think.
4. For Pooh to eventually escape from Rabbit's home was a long tedious process and at times a somewhat fractious process. Migrations can also be long, tedious and fractious; they also stop you doing what you'd rather be doing which in Pooh's case was eating, in your case it might be growing your business.

Many of Pooh's problems could have been prevented by planning and management of girth. Many of the potential pitfalls in the Cloud can be prevented by planning and management of growth.