Dan Sholler’s session Initiating a SOA Effort (click link for slides) did a nice job of highlighting the basic things that lead a SOA initiative to be successful.  Many people first coming to SOA struggle to understand what this concept is really all about.  He started off with a nice simple list of the key principles of SOA:

1. Modular
2. Distributable
3. Swappable
4. Discoverable
5. Shareable

From there he highlighted that the primary benefits of SOA are agility and shareability.  To that at end, he made some very clear recommendations:

• Design the interaction layers of your applications according to the five SOA principles
• Focus on reducing dependencies between volatile implementations
• Share capabilities across system boundaries

Later in the presentation, Dan made a point I really liked: “services are agreements”.  In my view, understanding this is key to SOA success.  Thinking of a service as a piece of code that you throw over the wall to a production/operations group is totally missing the point.  Rather, we need to think of a service as a promise the service creation/delivery party makes to all of the parties consuming the service. 

Looking at advanced implementations, such as the work Amazon.com has done, leads to some interesting implications to application organizational structures and work processes.  The Amazon folks have clearly stated that the same team that builds a service is also responsible for running the service.  This team also figures out how the service should evolve, prioritizing new features and functions.  With only a small hop, skip, and jump, this conversation gets to development methodologies.  Personally, I think agile methods are another key consideration to keep in mind when thinking about how to go about doing SOA.  Check out David Norton’s sessions, particularly the one “How To Make Agile Waterfall“

• People question the “value of SOA” all the time.  Just as there being good and bad relationships between people in regular life, it turns out that there are a large number of both SOA Successes and SOA Horror Stories.  The key is taking the time on the “softer issues” such as SOA Governance and How to Organize for SOA.  It is also critical to hit the “value cynicism” head on by really nailing SOA Business Cases.
• Individuals in a relationship often need to work on being more mature in general.  Application organizations need to mature in general, not just specifically for SOA.  Make sure to check out the sessions on Application Governance and Maturity
• My favorite moment was when Sue mentioned that SOA had been around for quite some time and was still having issues – just like a boyfriend that had been hanging around for too long.  Roy made a great point about how SOA has significantly evolved from the early days of basic reuse and request/reply concepts.  On that note, check out the Delivering on Advanced SOA Track and particularly the sessions on Event Processing and Context Delivery Architectures.

As a final point, the notion that every IT organization’s journey with SOA is as unique, rewarding, and challenging as any serious relationship between people is a great thing to keep in mind.  There is tremendous value here, but we do all have to work on it.  We need to make sure we are focusing our time on the right things…every day – just as therapists are want to say!

I’m sitting in Jess Thompson’s SOA Technology Alternatives session (note: you can see the slides I mention below by following the preceding link).  He has done a nice job of putting a number of technologies into the overall context of what it takes for an SOA initiative to succeed.  All the technologies come together on slide 14, which contrasts these technologies across 10 major dimensions.  The most intriguing technical trend is clearly the expanding breadth of ESB Suites and how that will bump into BPM Suite evolution with appliances being an interesting alternative view of putting a number of things ‘in a box’.

He then goes on to highlight that lack of effective governance is the number one reason that SOA initiatives are perceived as failing.  This led to a discussion on a SOA Center of Excellence as well as the importance of managing your SOA Assets and Artifacts.  Personally, I believe these latter points are absolutely critical.  It’s all too easy to focus on the enabling technologies at the expense of focusing on the enabling management disciplines, skills, and behaviors that are required for SOA success.

To see more on these subjects, check out the following sessions:

• Selecting Backplane Infrastructure Technologies to Support Your SOA and BPM Initiatives
• Case Study: Transitioning to SOA
• Riding the SOA Tiger: Practical Governance for SOA
• SOA Horror Stories

Have you missed Malcolm Gladwell on CNN, CBS, Times, NYtimes and all the other media appearances he’s made? This week you’ll have a chance to see him live, and get his latest book, even get it autographed!  Come see Malcolm’s keynote - Outliers: Why Some People Succeed and Some Don’t.

In addition to this blog, we’ve set up a Linked in group for all the AADI Summit attendees…don’t miss the opportunity to get real time updates, hook up with other attendees, and engage in your own discussions during the event.

Join the group at www.linkedin.com/e/gis/1213077

I will continue be blogging throughout the week, so expect plenty of great posts during the week on this blog as well.