Entries Tagged 'it-management' ↓

In Measuring the agility of an SOA approach Nick Malik proposes a metric to verify the “agility” claims for SOA. While I applaud Nick’s efforts to create some objective measures for the business case around SOA, I think that Nick’s proposed methodology falls down in step 2.

Nick proposes you apply the agility metric to two projects – one SOA project and one non-SOA project – and then compare the results. Hopefully the SOA project would demonstrate a higher agility measure.

The basic problem that I see is that “SOA-ness” is not a property of a project, “SOA-ness” is a property of an organization.

SOA is more about the general organizational approach to delivering projects and involves things like:

• The organizational structure that defines and delivers IT projects (including the way projects are planned and funded).
• The technical standards, frameworks and best practices that have been put in place and refined over time.
• The SOA assets (Services) that have already been delivered and are available for re-use on any given project.

If we wanted to compare metrics from two different populations to determine if SOA truly does provide benefit, then we would need to compare at the level of organizations. Find two different organizations – one that has adopted an SOA approach for IT management and one that has not. Then find which is the most agile or which has the better ROI or whatever favourite metric you have.

In practice I don’t think this is realistic. Embarking on a true SOA approach requires significant organizational change and that requires something of a “leap of faith” for the early adopters. Over time, hopefully the benefits of SOA will become apparent. Until then, I keep my eyes open for studies which can demonstrate SOA benefits and best practices – but I won’t hold my breath because as with many of these things, “your mileage may vary”.

Podcasting has had a profound effect on the way that I keep up to date with my industry and the world in general. It turns my daily commute into an opportunity to absorb new ideas. The most powerful aspects of the technology are the ability to listen offline – to timeshift – and and the fact that I don’t need to use my eyes, or my hands, or need a comfortable seat, or can listen while jogging. I’m particularly grateful for the specialised channels that have embraced podcasts – ABC radio allows me to catch up with news, analysis or the Science Show – luxuries which I never had the time for in the past. IT Conversations allows me to attend tech conferences on the other side of the planet which were previously unavailable.

I recently heard a great podcast from MIS magazine called CIOs wrestle with short-term thinking which reinforced a lot of my observations of the state of “Enterprise IT.” Two of the key speakers were Bill Robertson (CIO of DeBortoli Wines) and Ross Dawson. Key points from the podcast were:

• Organizations are sourcing IT through multiple different channels – either by outsourcing services, or through new software as a service models.
• New component-based computing models are enabling this kind of change.
• These changes require more long-term thinking – evolutionary changes to the IT landscape require a tenure that is typically longer than the current average for CIOs and CEOs.
• The nature of the CIO job is changing – moving from being a bureaucratic or procurement role into being more of a technology role.

This resonates strongly with my observations and experience in the industry. Short-term thinking favours “quick fixes” such as buying the latest application or outsourcing the “crown jewels” to the latest services company. Rarely do these actions fix anything – they just move the problems around.

Long-term thinking deals with the harder issues of managing less tangible (but more valuable) assets such as processes and capabilities. IT Architecture becomes a vital organizational capability and good governance drives consistency and interoperability over a longer period of time.