Just a note though that Johan Nordin (he is a Software AG Centrasite customer) from Volvofinans himself is on the executive steering committee of the company... So I've nudged him a bit about the "bottom up" characterization since he himself is a pretty influential executive. He's certainly been able to establish enough governance that it's not a completely bottom up phenomenon although he really does have the "can do" bottom up cultural element. The thing that makes his story good is that he knows he can show the business results without doing a big bang style and continue to iterate towards the target state architecture.
Miko --- In [email protected], "htshozawa" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Except for the new Porche Cayenne they drive to work! :) > > +1 on Johan. We have to keep executives informed so they will be > given credits when the project succeeds. :) > The actually work probably has to be bottom up. > > H.Ozawa > > --- In [email protected], "Rob Eamon" > <reamon@> wrote: > > > > IMO, business executives never drive much of anything. They > > approve/disapprove proposals made by others. :-) > > > > > At SOA World a couple weeks ago, Johan Nordin, CIO at > Volvofinans > > > (200 employee finance company for Volvo), one of the featured > > > speakers, scoffed at the notion of a top-down mandate from > business > > > executives to drive SOA. I'm paraphrasing what he said: "I > can't > > > wait around for executives to agree and let it flow down. We > > > wouldn't see it in my lifetime. We have to drive it from > beneath > > > and from the top." > > > > Reasonable. But I think you missed my point a little. I wasn't > > focused on who was driving the effort. Rather, the bigger bang is > > (ostensibly) at the business level, regardless of who drives. > > > > > If you can't wait around for business executive support, the > > > question becomes, can you successfully drive SOA from the IT > side? > > > I had a short conversation with Anne Manes at JavaOne, asking > about > > > the characteristics of the few SOA successes she found. One > > > company had a surprising level of success where the primary > driver > > > was a small number of highly motivated, business-centric IT > > > *architects*. I was surprised and relieved that an architect > could > > > have such a positive impact. Actually, I wasn't really > surprised, > > > but definitely relieved that architects were given credit for > this > > > change! > > > > Business-centric is the key, when trying to get the most from SOA > and > > applying it to the BA/EA levels. > > > > > IMO, 5+ years from now, with a new wave of MBA's seeping into > > > executive management positions with better SOA-aware IT > knowledge, > > > SOA will be driven by business executives. But for now, I think > > > for the vast majority of businesses, it will be the smart, > > > influential, business-centric IT people who will drive SOA. > > > > Let's not forget that IT people are business people! IT is a part > of > > the business! :-) > > > > -Rob > > >
