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Historically computers of all types have been treated like pets. Pets are loved. Pets have names. Pets are cared for and taken to the vet no matter what is wrong. Pets have their quirks tolerated or even overlooked. Pets are toys.

With the rise of DevOps the industry has stopped treating production machines like pets and treat them like livestock. Livestock are not loved, they are means to an end. Livestock do not have names. Livestock are cared for only as far as the return on investment is met. Livestock have their quirks eliminated from the herd. Livestock are mass produced tools and the health of the herd is more important than the individual.

Laptops (phones and tablets) are a separate class of animal. They are custom built tools that are used intimately. They are used to demonstrate skill and often have badges of honor hung upon them. Because they are used every day by a master the grooves worn into them are unique and their loss can mean significant reduction in productivity. They have a predictable lifecycle. A new one is born, customized, groomed, demonstrated, and awarded, then put to pasture or killed when the next generation is born. They are show animals.

The goal of Project Show Animal is to provide the tools to stop treating your laptop like a pet. You should be prepared for your laptop to be lost/unavailable/broken/stolen at any time. Experience is show that the best way to be sure you are ready to recover from a disaster is to make the disaster happen every day. The pain must be pulled forward to make the changes needed to be able to recover from the disaster.

Project Show Animal wants to make recovery from a disaster so easy that you practice it every week, and perhaps one day every day. This is continuous delivery of your most important tools to ensure you are always ready to work.

There are just two steps:

1. Cleanly Install OSX.
2. Boxen up you machine.