Service-Oriented Architecture Governance for the Services Driven Enterprise

1.23. COMMON SOA GOVERNANCE MISTAKES

SOA governance is immature. This relative immaturity of SOA leads naturally to many mistakes in how organizations implement SOA governance. These mistakes come in a variety of shapes and sizes, depending on the approach to SOA governance. As with any new technology trend, software vendors rush their "new" tools to market to solve the problem, usually ahead of an organization's ability to take full advantage of the tool. The normal progression then is that the tool replaces the more appropriate focus on processes and outcomes.

Another SOA governance trend is the opportunistic repositioning of software tools as "SOA governance" solutions. Web services management (WSM) tools are now "runtime governance tools." Metadata repositories are now "design-time SOA governance platforms." And network routers and security appliances are now runtime governance policy enforcement solutions. Regardless, the overarching message here is simple: Do not reduce SOA governance to a software tool, and do not confuse opportunistic product repositioning as a true SOA governance solution.

The following is a partial yet representative overview of common SOA governance mistakes we have seen in the short time SOA governance has been top of mind for IT executives. See if your organization is guilty of any of these approaches.

• Buying a Tool versus Implementing Robust Processes. As described above, this SOA governance mistake is very common. Many organizations believe that ...