Analyst: IT departments are sabotaging SOA

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Stupidity is sabotaging SOA

I'm a gunslinger so I don't have a vested interest in what architecture a customer chooses. Windows, Linux, AS400, DBII, SQL Server, Oracle...all the same to me. I get paid to build things and fix what's broken. Web service, web site, outsource service, PHP, ASP, ASP.NET, ColdFusion...don't care.

As such I'm relieved of the political struggles between IT and management. My perspective is that management sees SOA as some magic IT bullet. Most IT departments are skeptical, having heard the same pitch from a steady parade of technologies, most of which did not deliver on the promised efficiencies.

Most of the time, a SOA commitment does not deliver the promised efficiencies, either. Though a lot depends on how it's implemented and who's doing it. I have one customer moving to, or trying to move to, a SOA environment. The incoming consultant...three letters in the name, not IBM...took a working project built by three programmers and turned it into a SOA project that now has 30 people...check that, 33 people. Six months later they're still using the same basic core application built by the original three developers who have since moved on to new projects.

Every time I'm at that customer I'm reminded of a Regan line: There must be a pony in here somewhere. Lots of activity, very little productivity.

That is a sadly familiar experience. Few companies can implement a SOA environment profitably and make it work. But I have seen it done. Not a full blown SOA lifestyle, but on a per project basis I've seen it work very well.

Mainly what works is simplicity. Simplify your IT environment and stop chasing the buzz word of the week. If a service architecture simplifies and streamlines your IT environment, it's a good choice. If you're doing it just because some dipwad decided that it's a chapter in this week's edition of IT "best practices" then you're going to spend a lot of money and fail miserably.

Still, not a total loss. You'll still need to hire yourself a gunslinger to clean up the mess and salvage something workable and that's where I ride into town.

By the way, have any of you seen my copy of the big book of IT Best Practices? I seem to have misplaced it somewhere.

Posted by: Chad_z   Posted on: 05/15/07 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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