SOA Manifesto

The SOA Manifesto is a fanfare to architects everywhere, its Signatories like a triumphant procession heralding the pragmatic delivery of business value to enterprises via the provision of IT services.

Service orientation is a paradigm that frames what you do. Service-oriented architecture (SOA) is a type of architecture that results from applying service orientation. We have been applying service orientation to help organizations consistently deliver sustainable business value, with increased agility and cost effectiveness, in line with changing business needs. Through our work we have come to prioritize:

Business value over technical strategy

Strategic goals over project-specific benefits

Intrinsic interoperability over custom integration

Shared services over specific-purpose implementations

Flexibility over optimization

Evolutionary refinement over pursuit of initial perfection

That is, while we value the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.

It was a bit of a toss-up whether to write this blog here or under Innovation and Business since the impact of enterprise architecture is across both the business and IT segments of the enterprise - the very issue addressed by myself and several colleagues in Is EA a general business term, or an IT term and Is Enterprise Architecture a philosophy or an artefact?

However I want to reprise just my own comments from the latter discussion:

I reckon enterprise architecture is the outcome of practising enterprise architecture; like design is the outcome of, well, 'doing the design and constructing the pieces.' Enterprise architecture means either or both of 'enterprise business architecture' or 'enterprise IT architecture.' We usually leave off 'business' or 'IT' as implied but there is a non-subtle difference.

The business architecture is a constraint on the IT architecture whether or not it reflects as-is or to-be business strategy. The IT architecture, on the other hand, we can shape and mold, just as creative an exercise as it is methodical. Either way, our IT terminology and outcomes should/must match the expectations of business stakeholders, corporate and IT governance, strategy and objectives.

As an exercise, using TOGAF or Zachman, for example, adds structure ('constraints give us freedom') however the creation and evolution of enterprise architecture is necessarily ontological, that is, associated with the existence of entities and the relationships between them. The philosophy, architecture practice and implementation are inseparable facets of enterprise architecture reflecting the underlying nature of complex, emergent systems.

We must think carefully about what we are trying to achieve, about alignment of IT strategy with organisational strategy, culture, values and objectives. As architects, we must ensure the technical solutions we provide are cohesive in themselves as well as delivering business value.

The SOA Manifesto and associated Guiding Principles, when followed, should help us to deliver on this promise.