David S. Linthicum: When SOAs Fall Down
By David S. Linthicum
November 1, 2007 —
(Page 1 of 3)
It’s just one of those things. Technical projects fail, and SOA is no exception. So, how do these failures occur? Like they always do: as a result of poor planning, lack of understanding or the inability to execute—and that’s the short list.
Truth be told, SOAs are not that difficult to define, design and build. It’s just an architecture leveraging a bunch of technology that any good technologist can get to work together. However, getting the architecture in an optimal and functional state that best provides value to the business seems to be the difficult objective to achieve.
In order to get SOA right, you must carefully consider the business drivers and your own problem domain (in detail), and learn how to determine the problem patterns so you can thus determine the solution. Seems simple, but many enterprises get this wrong, and then declare “SOA was a failure,” when in reality the people failed and not the technology or the approach. There is a huge difference.
There are three major reasons SOA projects, or the first steps toward SOA, fail these days. They are: • Lack of understanding • Lack of planning • Lack of follow-through
Lack of understanding is the core issue here. Developers and architects do not take the time to understand the essence of SOA, including what it is, how to do it properly, and how to grow it into the enterprise architecture longer term. While some take time to learn, most empowered with the project budget drive forward with very little perception as to how a SOA will meet the needs of business. Indeed, most of these guys “manage by magazine,” making critical decisions based upon popular “technology” culture.
For instance, I’m always taken aback by the number of project leaders who jump out and pick some SOA technology before they even understand their own issues. A typical question would be “Which ESB?” when the correct question is “Why an ESB?” Many jump on some technological bandwagon only to find the technology they selected was perfect for some enterprises, but not theirs. Thus, they have to run around at the last minute and look for new technology, or worse, just press forward with the wrong technology, which is sure to kill the SOA.
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