last night I read an interesting blog about the present situation and missunderstandigs of SOA by Anne Thomas Manes, a well known Enterprise Architect and author of a Manager's Guide to WebSerrvices http://www.bowlight.net/webservicesbook/index.html
She postulates "SOA is Dead - Long Live Services" and by the way created a SOAsaurus, highly influenced by the economy.
Her headline might be very confusing at the beginning but while you're reading and understanding her argument and her view about what's needed to do "SOA", making "SOA" and want to establish "SOA" in an Enterprise Architecture she points out some provoking opinions but mentioned useful key points.
Her first painful statement postulates:
"It’s time to accept reality. SOA fatigue has turned into SOA disillusionment. Business people no longer believe that SOA will deliver spectacular benefits. "SOA" has become a bad word. It must be removed from our vocabulary [...] But perhaps that’s the challenge: The acronym got in the way. People forgot what SOA stands for. They were too wrapped up in silly technology debates (e.g., "what’s the best ESB?" or "WS-* vs. REST"), and they missed the important stuff: architecture and services."
This might be confusing but I made experiences with IT people either smiling when the hear about "SOA" strategies, be very reserved about the costs (especially mid market customers) or still doesn't really understands what SOA really stands for? She points out that SOA DOES NOT stands for a technology which could be bought by a customer. Often it is still not accepted that SOA is a "mentality" which uses a "mindset" and a set of "patterns" to achieve an architectural redesign which ends up in "IT efficiency" and "Agility". The way to achieve this is still hard work and painful but with the right strategy, including the right technologies it's manageable.
"And that’s where we need to concentrate from this point forward: Services."
Her last sentence is (in my opinion) the key points which claim what we really need to concentrate on most when we're talking about SOA and Architectural Enterprise Design -> its Services !!
This thinking needs on the other hand a clear and definite specification what a "Service" in your specific organisation really is, stands for and what this service needs to fullfill. So her blog is actually another hymne to what we really need to concentrate on: Service Governance with its Service Design and its Lifecylemanagment.
Please be encoured to read Anne Thomas Manes blog if you are interested in EA and SOA topics
An interesting comment on her blog can be found here from Mike Kavis http://tinyurl.com/7nzn45
What Do you think about her provocing blog ?
------- Additional comment 2009/01/30 ---------
Maybe the term "Agile Enterprise Architecture - Agile EA" has to be used instead of "SOA"
http://agileea.com/portal/index.php
SOA is definitely not dead !! It is more alive than ever as Agile EA !
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