What does "don’t pave the cow path" mean in this context?

I came across a new phrase while reading description section of a webinar topic on Operational Best Practices in the Cloud here.

Excerpt:

Don’t pave the cow path. Cloud infrastructure is very different from traditional infrastructure and requires different approaches to really harness cloud value. From dev/test/prod lifecycle management to deployment automation, patch management, monitoring and automation for autoscaling and disaster recovery...

What does don't pave the cow path mean, in general and in this context?

I couldn't even find the meaning or an idiom entry in The Free Dictionary.

Solution 1:

It means Don't use makeshift (or ready-to-use) solutions.

I have tried to find the origin of the phrase and the only explanation I have found is is here ( in the comments).

Paving the cow path is an expression I heard first in the east coast of the US. The story as it was told to me is as follows:

When the city of Boston was new and unpaved the city fathers decided against laying out a regular street plan and instead merely paved the paths that had been worn by cattle. The implication is that this has resulted in a chaotic inefficient street plan that lacks logic. The admonition not to “pave the cow path” is supposed to remind us not to enshrine a makeshift solution.

Of course there are problems with this phrase. Cattle are actually a pretty good at finding the path of least resistance, which is often the best route for a road.

[...]

The Boston story basically matches the actual source. The phrase originates with a poem written by Sam Walter Foss (1858-1911) originally of New Hampshire, but he did live in Boston for a period of time, so the reference to Boston streets may be legit. The poem was called "The Calf-Path" and can be found if searched on the Net. Somehow Calf has turned into cow, so perhaps Foss was also aware of the inherent travel efficiencies of cows, and used the meandering of calves to make his point.

The poem The Calf-Path by Sam Walter Foss.

Solution 2:

I never heard of it before either, but a google search came up with this:

In the IT world, "paving cow paths" means automating a business process as is, without thinking too much about whether or not that process is effective or efficient.

Solution 3:

The Calf Path is one of my favorite poems. To me it has always meant just because things have always been done a certain way does not mean they should continue to be done in that way if it no longer serves a purpose. Circumstances change and so must processes.