5.0 out of 5 stars
5 Reasons to Read Todd Biske's SOA Governance Book, October 26, 2008
This review is from: SOA Governance (Paperback)
Over the summer, I had the opportunity to read the first draft of my friend Todd Biske's SOA Governance book. Now that the book is available, I want to share 5 reasons why SOA practitioners and managers should read this book.
1. Todd's view of SOA Governance is outcome, rather than product, centric. Todd defines SOA Governance as "the combination of people, policies, and processes within your organization that will ensure that the desired behaviors of your strategic SOA initiative are achieved".
Examples of those desired behaviors, or outcomes, are "increasing the number of assets reused by 10% each year", "decreasing the average time to produce a solution by 10%" and/or "increasing the number of projects delivered by 10% each year".
While Todd does speak to the technology / product categories that enable SOA governance, at no point does he equate (confuse) SOA governance with the acquisition / implementation of a registry, repository, service broker or runtime monitor.
2. The management fable will resonate with any practitioner who has ever worked in corporate IT. Todd explains SOA Governance in the context of the SOA journey of a fictional corporation. The book follows Advasco's SOA advocates, implementers and adversaries from an early win, to the trials of sharing, through the mysteries of problem detection and resolution, and finally to SOA success. As the tale unfolds, Todd points out problem areas, suggests corrective action and supplies best practices.
3. The reference chapter is worth the price of the book. Even if management fables aren't your thing, you'll find Chapter 8, Establishing SOA Governance at Your Organization, to be an indispensable reference. This chapter covers:
-People: solution architect, business analyst, tech lead/domain architect, enterprise/technology architect, information architect, security architect, IT manager, service manager/owner, platform manager
-Organization: Enterprise Architecture, COE/Competency Center, Review Boards
-Policies: Pre-Project, Project and Run-time
-Processes: Establishment, Education/Communication, Enforcement, Measurement
-Technologies: Registry/Repository, Service Testing Platforms, ESB, XML Appliances, Security Gateways, Service Management Platforms, Service Invocation & Exposure Frameworks
4. The advice on governance -- policy establishment, communication, enforcement, measurement and feedback -- is pragmatic, not autocratic. During their SOA journey, the Advasco team faces challenges where what's best for the architecture (long-run) isn't necessarily best for the business that day. Instead of taking an architecture hard line, or business shortcut, the team considers options and implications, and makes pragmatic trade-offs.
5. Exhibiting good SOA form, the book is easily consumed and right-sized.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No