Joe McKendrick recently led an eBizQ panel on Avoiding SOA
Disillusionment. Participants included Chris Harding, The Open Group; Phil
Wainwright, eBizQ and ZDNet; Jignesh Shah, SoftwareAG; David Bressler, Progress
Software; and myself, Chris Kraus, Product Manager, ITKO LISA.
The panel audio is available at this link to the eBizQ panel on Avoiding SOA Disillusionment. You have to register with eBizQ if you have not done so but it is quick and free. Joe put the term “disillusionment” in quotes, as this is a loaded term. While SOA has shifted the burden from big-bang vendor solutions to internal IT alignment, the recent comments by analysts in this direction. The panelists I joined have not seen disillusionment, but they do see that SOA is no longer seen as the most exciting technology anymore.
SOA has ridden out the hype curve and people are now settling into implementations and dealing with the new challenges SOA raises in realistic ways. The implementation process is now more complex for IT because you are dealing with multiple services and not a single vendor you can beat up on.
Several panelists covered how SOA is best presented as a business solution and not an IT solution. Chris Harding added that it is important to see how are consumers going to use these services now and how they can be reused by others in the long term. This is especially true, as conditions within organizations are constantly changing.
David said that project-oriented IT departments can be counter to achieving a long-term vision as they are rewarded on short-term performance. SOA can highlight some issues within IT departments that may be counter to long-term business success. Perhaps SOA may require a cultural change within many IT departments.
There is much more to hear on the panel. I think the issues of “disillusionment” are the result of poor implementation strategies, lack of discipline around quality, and/or the use of out of date methods. These issues are not necessarily embedded within SOA. However, it does require new ways of doing things to be successful. The panel covered many of these changes such as Agile development and better use of virtualization to make resources available during the lifecycle.
The panelists seem to feel that the down economy will help SOA as it is a good way to force companies to become more nimble and it brings cost savings. However, success will depend on how each company responds to the crisis. Do they hunker down, or do they look for innovative ways to survive and grow?
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