Ensuring SOA Success
by Rich Barndt

As SOA projects move from pilot implementations to enterprisewide IT initiatives, the need for an effective approach to SOA organization and governance (O&G) also increases. In fact, the lack of SOA O&G can be the biggest cause of SOA failure in an organization.

Steps CIOs can take to ensure SOA Success
There are actions CIOs can take to improve the odds of SOA success:

• Get personally involved, early. The “benevolent dictator” approach can be employed to catalyze change and bring decisions on new rules, roles and responsibilities to a clear conclusion. The reality in most organizations is that IT teams won’t work out those critical success factors among themselves, as the “turf” issues are beyond the responsibility of the individuals developing the new processes.
• Prioritize the SOA benefits. As SOA has moved into the mainstream of IT strategy, the potential benefits have been hyped beyond what’s realistically possible. Forcing the IT leadership team to prioritize the benefits the enterprise will achieve by adopting an SOA approach is a foundational exercise that is extremely beneficial.
• Establish the boundaries. Foundational organization and architecture guidelines need to be debated and agreed upon at the top. The implications of simple guidelines such as “data is owned by the enterprise” are far-reaching, and set the boundaries that smaller sub-teams can address in detail.
• Develop a conceptual SOA organization. The organizational models surrounding shared development approaches are finite, and while the titles may be updated for SOA, many CIOs will recognize the roles. QAT can assist you in developing “straw” organizational models which have been proven to be an effective way to surface the issues among the leadership team with minimal territorial behavior, which can then be modified for real-world trade-offs at a later date.
• Address four core processes first. Not all software development processes need to be addressed immediately, in fact, addressing too much too early can hinder success. Utilizing QAT’s services, organizations experience SOA success by beginning with addressing the following four core processes, leaving the rest of the software development lifecycle processes for later in their SOA maturity:
1. SOA architectural management.
2. SOA project management.
3. SOA alignment.
4. SOA infrastructure management.
• Ease culture shock. Many companies have adopted a project-by-project approach to implementing SOA, realizing benefits as they go. These companies have found that implementing effective SOA organization and governance (O&G) is a similar process. While the full implementation of the new SOA processes may require significant changes, implementing these changes all at once can overwhelm any benefits that may be realized from initial SOA projects. QAT’s recommended approach to rollout is to let the number of services actually deployed in production set the pace, allowing the O&G changes to be implemented in phases. Early in the process, virtual roles and committees can be an effective way to get started, all of which can be introduced without major organizational change.
• Put some bite in the process. Because SOA governance is key, you’ll want to establish an oversight/review committee with real power. This must be a priority, not an afterthought. Early in the process, the committee may be used primarily for facilitating communication, but over time the power of the committee needs to be felt, as the core processes begin to be implemented, and adherence needs to be enforced.
• Use the right kind of external help. Broad organizational change efforts can equal a “license to consult” for many vendors, and cause any CIO to avoid using outside assistance. But QAT, as an external resource unburdened by organizational politics, can be uniquely useful for building consensus on priorities, leveraging examples from the industry, defining new roles and responsibilities, and building an O&G implementation plan. SOA organization and governance doesn’t require the army of consultants that some would have you to believe.

Addressing SOA governance is an effort that requires time and tenacity to pay off. Change threatens some people, and it won’t happen overnight so you’ll have to keep plugging away. But by getting personally involved early in the key decisions, and by taking a pragmatic approach to implementing the O&G changes, you can set your organization up for success as service-oriented architecture becomes more widely adopted throughout your enterprise.  QAT is here to provide you with guidance and assistance throughout the process.

For more information, please visit http://www.qat.com/soa.asp