Five months ago a presentation was given in Amsterdam. In that presentation a comment was made that I woke up with a goat in my hotel room. That coupled with the fact that almost every presentation at the conference had a picture of a grain silo in it made some to think they were at a farmer’s conference, not a technology conference.

A quick google search by Arjen Wolfs  found a calculus problem called “The Goat and Silo”, and a challenge was thrown down. I was challenged to build a presentation around “The Goat and Silo”. But as I researched this idea, and talked to others, I found that the idea was not as half cocked as I thought.

Initially, when I talked to people about the idea they thought I was crazy, but as I explained it more they realized the analogy of a goat tied to a silo was an excellent comparison to some IT organizations and the people within them. I wrote an article for Information Week describing the idea of hiring goats, and the response helped to validate the idea. Further validation on the idea was provided at Cloud Connect Chicago where I presented the ideas of goats, silos, and the misconception that silos must be “torn down”.

So now we circle back to Amsterdam, and the Cloudstack Collaboration Conference. I’m excited to be heading back to some of the people that initially hatched the concept, and reflect together with them on the journey over the last five months. Am I crazy (maybe), or do the ideas really reflect what we see on a day to day basis in IT. But what is more exciting is getting to interact with the great attendees and speakers, as well as attend the great talks scheduled.

Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/valkyrieh116/1209010274/in/photostream/