John Schley, DAMA International President, has a great column in DM Review on how one of his children's favourite stories gave him insight into data management methods:

One night, as I was reading this book for maybe the 3,287^th time, it occurred to me that "Old Hat New Hat" matched some data modeling experiences I've had. Like the clerk in the hat store, I come in to the meeting with a pretty good idea of what kind of data structure the client needs. I'm up on all the latest modeling techniques and am eager to show off my proficiency with my chosen data modeling tool. I'm eager to produce a stunning data model diagram, jam-packed with important details such as the table and column names (in standard abbreviation format!), constraints, and indexes. And I'm sure they'll love the time savings they get when I automatically generate the data definition language (DDL) script that creates all these structures in their chosen database management system.

Sometimes the simplest analogies are the most meaningful.  Good job, John.