Skip to main content

Migration To Blogger Beta #3

In the previous article in this series, I described a homogenous migration, where all of the principals (involved computers, software, and users) are identical. In a homogenous migration, you can easily substitute one principal for another. Whatever works for one will work for another. No surprises.

Guess what? There is no such thing as a homogenous migration. There will always be some surprises, when you deal with computers, software, and users. You cannot easily substitute one principal for another, unless you enjoy being yelled at.

You can, though, use a phased migration process.
  • Pilot.
  • Main.
  • Followup.
You just organise it differently. You identify the differences between the principals, and customise the process to allow for the differences.

Identify the features of each principal. The people, network connections, software. Which features make the various principals unique? Here are just examples - I'm sure that you could think of a dozen more.
  • A computer that is connected differently.
  • A computer with a different version of the operating system.
  • A different software product.
  • A user who is a key performer in the department.
  • A user whose manager thinks is the key performer.
All of these are surprises waiting for you to enjoy. Or challenges, waiting to challenge you.

So you try and identify the challenges, and plan for them. And you pray for some simpler principals, with no challenges. And in between the two - lots of challenges, and no challenges - you will find the bulk of the population - some challenges.

This process, where you identify the challenges, we call triage.
  • No challenges.
  • A few challenges.
  • Lots of challenges.


If you triage properly, you'll end up with a nice even distribution.
  • 10% - No challenges. Pilot.
  • 80% - A few challenges. Main.
  • 10% - Lots of challenges. Followup.
See where we are going? Next, we'll explore a phased migration.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Adding A Link To Your Blog Post

Occasionally, you see a very odd, cryptic complaint I just added a link in my blog, but the link vanished! No, it wasn't your imagination.

Embedded Comments And Main Page View

The option to display comments, embedded below the post, was made a blog option relatively recently. This was a long requested feature - and many bloggers added it to their blogs, as soon as the option was presented to us. Some blog owners like this feature so much, that they request it to be visible when the blog is opened, in main page view. I would like all comments, and the comment form, to be shown underneath the relevant post, automatically, for everyone to read without clicking on the number of comments link. And this is not how embedded comments work.

What's The URL Of My Blog?

We see the plea for help, periodically I need the URL of my blog, so I can give it to my friends. Help! Who's buried in Grant's Tomb, after all? No Chuck, be polite. OK, OK. The title of this blog is "The Real Blogger Status", and the title of this post is "What's The URL Of My Blog?".