Playbook for the SOA Red Zone |
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By Jack Vaughan
09 Feb 2009 | SeachSOA.com |
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The SuperBowl and even the Pro Bowl are now behind us – but it may not be too late to get one more football metaphor in before moving on. Recently we were talking about the state of SOA with Eric Marks, Founder and CEO of AgilePath, a SOA consultancy, and he more or less likened the plight of some SOA adopters today to the team that gets near the end zone but has trouble scoring.
He described the "SOA Red Zone" - an area where SOA projects encounter the greatest risk. It is usually the place where SOA initiatives stall or fail due to poor execution or planning, he indicated. This is like the football Red Zone – the sometimes treacherous 20 yards of ground that stand between a team and a touchdown.
The SOA Red Zone, said Marks, is the place where SOA adoption is most challenging. The specific elements involved are SOA Strategy and Planning, SOA Governance Model Development, SOA "Ramp" (defined as the phase focused on preparing the organization for the actual SOA initiative), and the SOA Reference Implementation.
In Marks' estimation, by-passing these Red Zone elements has dire consequences. Note that a Reference Implementation is part of the essential plan. Making this an important a part as strategy and planning helps insure incremental success that keeps SOA moving forward in the organization.
"If you touch those fundamentals, you'll get there," said Marks. "But if you skip entire steps you are likely to fail." Marks said AgilePath has implemented an Acceleration Framework that helps teams get through those necessary Red Zone steps – to "make sure they have the minimum competencies in those areas."
It is important, he said, to achieve a reference implementation around which you can iterate. "You want to be providing value for the business," he indicated, and that means an early reference implementation.
What is Marks' take on the "SOA is dead" brouhaha heard much of late? He answers with a question: "If you are not doing SOA, what is your alternative?"
"There isn't one," says Marks.
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