Corporate Governance

SOA Governance

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Imagine driving along a winding road. On the one side you have sheets of blasted rock that lead up into a mountain range, on the other side you have a steep cliff, with a freefall of several hundred feet, leading into a deep ocean. The faster you drive, the sooner you will reach your destination, but the more risky the drive. For example, you may need to swerve to avoid obstacles or adjust quickly to volatile weather conditions— risk factors that are elevated when moving at higher speeds. But, it’s still tempting, because the sooner you reach that destination, the more successful your drive will be considered, by everyone.
When we design a roadmap for our SOA initiative, we lay out a direction that deter- mines our route and a schedule that determines our rate of speed. We try to anticipate and plan for obstacles, but we know to expect the unexpected. With the necessary stake- holder support and financing in place (let’s call it our “fuel in the tank”), we determine it’s time to hit the road.
But before we do, let’s go back to that decision point about choosing our route. A wind- ing road with an open cliff constantly at our side represents the continuous risk of plunging over the edge, especially when maneuvering to avoid unanticipated obstacles. Such a road requires minimal work to put together and therefore a perceived opportu- nity to reach our goals in less time and with less expense. But, there’s that risk factor we need to consider, especially of concern after we take a preliminary look over the edge to see the accumulated wreckage of the many vehicles that previously, unsuccessfully attempted this drive. We therefore reconsider.
The best analogy of IT governance I encountered was by Leo Shuster who, in his pod- cast interview for the International SOA + Cloud Symposium, stated that governance is like guardrails along a road. A governed roadmap is one that has, from beginning to end, controls that establish rules that we must comply with and parameters that we must function within, as we progress throughout SOA project stages.
In other words, we need to build a road with solid guardrails that keep our initiative from veering off its path. For many organizations, this realization was the result of los- ing significant investments to the heaps of wreckage already floating in the ocean below the cliffs of unregulated project plans.

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Detail Information

Series Title

SOA Governance

Call Number

-

Publisher

: ., 2011

Collation

1-706

Language

English

ISBN/ISSN

13: 978-0-13-815675-

Classification

NONE

Content Type

-

Media Type

-

Carrier Type

-

Edition

1st Edtion

Subject(s)

Governance

Specific Detail Info

-

Statement of Responsibility

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Other version/related

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