RE: [service-orientated-architecture] My article on Line56.com

[Biske, Todd]

Hopefully it didn't come across that way.  The latter part of my comments are actually the most important, and I'd love to see more articles that lay it on the line for CIOs.  An article, such as yours, that targets a CEO, rather than a CIO, approaches this from the perspective that IT is always bringing new technology to the business.  I'd argue that SOA is not so much about technology, as it is the way we decompose business problems into technology solutions, i.e. it's about the solution development process.  The CIO needs to treat IT as a business, and work to remove the inefficiencies that inevitably impact the bottom line.  If it means a fundamental change in how we build systems, so be it. The CIO, or whoever is engaging the CEO, needs to put IT processes in the business perspective and demonstrate how adopting SOA can reduce costs, improve productivity, reduce "time-to-market", etc.  I think the burden is on IT to become more business aware than vice versa.   -tb -----Original Message----- From: JP Morgenthal [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, November 28, 2005 6:42 PM To: service-orientated-architecture@yahoogroups.com Subject: RE: [service-orientated-architecture] My article on Line56.com Todd,               I did target this at the masses and more importantly, I wrote the article so that every IT person can print it out and put it on their CEO’s desk.               As for your commentary that followed, was that a flame? J   JP Avorcor, Inc. Integrating across the Hinges of Business   JP Morgenthal Managing Partner Avorcor, Inc. 12110 Sunset Hills Road, Suite 450 Reston, VA 20190 [EMAIL PROTECTED] tel: fax: mobile: (703) 648-1520 (703) 648-1523 (703) 554-5301   Add me to your address book... Want a signature like this?   From: service-orientated-architecture@yahoogroups.com [mailto:service-orientated-architecture@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Biske, Todd Sent: Monday, November 28, 2005 4:00 PM To: service-orientated-architecture@yahoogroups.com Subject: RE: [service-orientated-architecture] My article on Line56.com   It certainly does.  For an article of this length, we all need to understand that it is written for the masses, and it would be easy to contradict particular points as being not appropriate for particular groups.  Before I do that, I'll say that I think the conclusions are definitely applicable to the masses, and at a good, consistent level.   Now for the fun part. :)   You compared SOA adoption to adoption of Web strategies in the mid-90's.  Using that same comparison, it is also true that many companies jumped on the Web bandwagon and failed miserably, because a web strategy didn't fit in with the overall business strategy.  The same thing holds true for SOA.  Companies should not go blindly into SOA without understanding how an SOA approach will benefit the business strategy.  At a recent conference I attended, almost every presenter began with a definition of SOA.  Why?  Because everyone is going to need to apply the principles behind SOA in their own, unique way.  You state:   The truth of the matter is that all signs point toward process re-engineering and optimization as one of the driving initiatives for companies over the ten years. Depending on the line of business, the need for process re-engineering and optimization may have already reached a critical point, or that point may be 10 years out on the horizon.  SOA is another tool in the repotoire for improving the business, and as with any successful business strategy, it's not simply about applying a technique, it's about applying the technique at the right time.  If your business isn't ready for "textbook SOA," you shouldn't be doing it.    After reading the first few paragraphs, I thought you were going to go down a path of doing a business process improvement exercise on IT, but you didn't.  I think this is actually a very good analogy.  If the software development/integration processes are impacting the bottom line, we should set out to improve those processes.  A process improvement initiative will involve tracking key performance indicators.  I would argue that a company that doesn't have a handle on KPIs is not going to be successful in reorganizing a sales team with new offices around a new business opportunity, just as an IT department is not going to be successful in adopting SOA if they don't have KPIs on their development and integration processes.  David Linthicum has blogged about IT shops adopting SOA without really understanding it: http://blogs.ittoolbox.com/eai/cto/archives/006603.asp   There are probably many companies that will go down that route.  An SOA strategy must be planned, and must be done in incremental steps that can be effectively managed and digested by the IT department and the company.  In my talk at the conference I mentioned earlier, my closing slide had the following comment:   "A goal of SOA is to allow IT to better acccomodate change.  To be successful, we need to presume and embrace change in our (IT's) systems and processes."    Put a different way, if the IT department can't embrace the changes in software development associated with an enterprise adoption of SOA, they will be very challenged in supporting the changes required by the business in the future.   -tb -----Original Message----- From: JP Morgenthal [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, November 28, 2005 12:26 PM To: service-orientated-architecture@yahoogroups.com Subject: [service-orientated-architecture] My article on Line56.com Thought this would make for some interesting discussion!   http://www.line56.com/articles/default.asp?articleID=7120&TopicID=3   Avorcor, Inc. Integrating across the Hinges of Business   JP Morgenthal Managing Partner Avorcor, Inc. 12110 Sunset Hills Road, Suite 450 Reston, VA 20190 [EMAIL PROTECTED] tel: fax: mobile: (703) 648-1520 (703) 648-1523 (703) 554-5301   Add me to your address book... Want a signature like this?   ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A.G. Edwards & Sons' outgoing and incoming e-mails are electronically archived and subject to review and/or disclosure to someone other than the recipient. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SPONSORED LINKS Service-oriented architecture Computer monitoring software Computer and internet software Free computer monitoring software YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS  Visit your group "service-orientated-architecture" on the web.    To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]    Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.