The answer to that question depends on how agility is measured. If agility is measured in the delivery of user stories then the answer is yes. If a team is very good at an agile process yet the underlying architecture prohibits the types of changes the business really needs and wants, then the answer is no. I think agility should be measured in a team’s ability to meet business demand. Delivering quickly is one thing, being able... Read More
SOA sounds hard and API sounds easy
Before cloud computing became the hottest topic in IT recently, the big buzzword was SOA (Service-Oriented Architecture). The business benefits of SOA can be astounding when a company actually implements a true loosely coupled architecture. SOA enables IT to improve speed to market, reusability, flexibility, adaptability, maintainability, etc. which helps the business drive revenue, reduce costs, on board clients faster, improve... Read More
SOA anti-patterns revisited
As I mentioned in a blog post earlier, I am engaging in yet another enterprise wide SOA initiative and would be blogging internally sharing my lessons learned. In the name of reuse (pun intended) I figured I would also post here on my blog. My apologies to all of those fatigued from years of SOA discussions. Here it goes…. SOA Anti-Patterns This is my first blog post in a series of many about SOA. As some of you may know, this is... Read More
Upcoming SOA Blog Posts
I am embarking on my third SOA initiative in the last five years. I have led a very large enterprise wide initiative back in 2006-2008, a poor man’s SOA at my startup from 2009-2011, and now another enterprise wide initiative that spans both cloud and on-premise infrastructure at my current company. I will be blogging a lot internally to share my experiences with my company. I will repost those here on this blog as I make the posts... Read More
Resurrecting SOA
Save your self some time from reading all the various blogs on SOA and just listen to the presentation from Anne Thomas Manes which is the sequel to the SOA is Dead conversation from two years ago. InfoQ: Resurrecting SOA There is really not much more we need to discuss about SOA now that it is all encapsulated in this excellent presentation. Let’s move the conversation to lessons learned stories, both successes and failures, and just... Read More
Private Clouds: Are they good for business or just cloud washing?
There is a huge debate going on about private clouds and whether they are really clouds or just a buzzword for modern day on-premise data-centers. An article called Are Private Clouds Hogwash? does a great job of capturing the debate that has been raging on for over a year now. Before I give my opinion, let’s look at the definition of a private cloud as put forth by NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology): Private cloud. The... Read More
SOA: Does size matter?
I am working on my second enterprise SOA implementation in the last 4 years. The first implementation was at a medium sized IT shop of 200+ people. That project was driven by the need to revamp business processes and leverage SOA to connect new user interfaces driven by workflow to old legacy systems. My current SOA initiative is quite unique. As a startup we are building from a blank sheet of paper. There is no legacy to deal with. ... Read More
SOA & Cloud Computing: Beyond the Myths
I had the pleasure of presenting at Utah St.’s 26th Annual IT Seminar yesterday. The conference was planned and run by the students. I was impressed both by the work the students did and the support and guidance given by Utah St. Very impressive! I must also add that the snow covered mountains of Logan, Utah was one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. My presentation was focused on what is SOA and Cloud Computing and how can... Read More
Reaping the benefits of Data Services
I have written in the past about my company’s need to be able to implement our database layer in a variety of locations and in a variety of structures. Here are a few of the reasons why: Real time failover – we have our data replicated to multiple virtual data centers Multi-channel partners – we are an aggregator of digital incentives across multiple industries with multiple data structures Geographical requirements –... Read More
SOA Manifesto published
I was real happy with the results of the SOA Manifesto. Unlike the cloud computing manifesto that was created by vendors, this manifesto was created by practitioners with the goal of helping practitioners succeed. Much of the guiding principles of the manifesto echo many of the blog posts that I and many of my colleagues have been saying for several years now. You can see the guiding principles here. The following video shows the launch of... Read More
