Recent Posts by Bob Rhubart

Part of the SOA Governance@Work series Conventional wisdom holds that there is a lot of confusion about SOA. I can’t understand why -- I googled “What is SOA?” and found more than 27,000 definitions. I also googled “What is truth?” and found 333,000 definitions, which puts the whole SOA thing into perspective. But let’s ignore, for a moment, the definition of what SOA is to look at what SOA is supposed to do. After all, this series of posts is dedicated to an examination of...

The first installment in the SOA Governance@Work series SOA governance is a big deal, truly important stuff. It covers lots of territory and involves lots of people taking lots of aspirin. Get it right, and your SOA initiative has a far greater chance of success. Get it wrong, and it won't be very long before Moose and Knuckles from building security help you move your stuff to your new office on the sidewalk near the bus stop. But SOA governance isn't a monolithic issue. Like...

In Companies still seeking ROI from SOA, Computerworld journalist Heather Havenstein reports on new Nucleus Research findings on the ROI of SOA. The report finds that only 37% of companies using SOA have seen ROI.  The report also finds that developers working for the 63% of companies on the losing end of that equation aren't using available SOA tools. According to the report, organizations whose developers use SOA tools have increased productivity by 28%. Havenstein writes: Nucl...

The discussion of business IT often veers into can't-see-the-forest-for-the-trees territory, where it's easy to forget just how cool and exciting this stuff can be. That's why Dispatches From the Hyperlocal Future, scifi writer Bruce Sterling's brilliant bit of not-so-speculative fiction (in the July issue of Wired), should be required reading, not just for those in IT, but especially for those on the business side of the house. Sterling's short story, presented as a...

A long time ago, when everyone wore a toga to work -- even when it wasn't Casual Friday -- the Roman philosopher Seneca advised that, "Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity." More recently, Bill Swanton -- whose attire is, I suspect, somewhat less casual than Seneca's -- offered this sage advice regarding what it will take to remain competitive in the very near future: Companies may see SOA and BPM in their future, but the ramp-up time to apply these...

In his post Do we understand SOA?, Jack van Hoof makes an interesting point about the use of the term "reuse" within the context of SOA: And then there is the widely spread misuse of some core terminology. "Experts" tend to speak of "reusable" services. But what they mean is "shareable" services, which is quite a different thing. I've read similar comments elsewhere, and while I understand the point, I think that characterizing this as misuse of terminology is not entirely...