I recently had the opportunity to interview Todd Biske, Senior Enterprise Architect for Monsanto and fellow blogger, regarding SOA Governance and his new book which was recently published regarding the same topic.
Congratulations on the new book Todd. With all the different SOA topics discussed in the blogosphere and elsewhere over the past few years, why did you choose to write about Governance?
To be completely honest, it started when the publisher contacted me and suggested that topic. I had contemplated writing a book before, but knew that it was a pretty heavy time investment and technology books tend to have a short shelf life. After I was contacted, I was very surprised to find that someone hadn't written a book about SOA governance. I also knew that SOA governance isn't about technology, it's about people, policies, and processes. As a result, a book on it could have a much longer shelf life than a book on Web Services or BPEL. The clincher was when a colleague at Monsanto told me that he had looked for a book on SOA governance and would have bought one if it was available.
What do you see as one of the biggest problems companies are facing when structuring their governance procedures?
One of the biggest problems is inadequate goal setting. Simply saying you want to adopt SOA is not enough. This particular scenario happens in Chapter 3 of my book. Why are you adopting SOA and what are measurables results you want to achieve? Without doing this first step, you are at risk of creating fiefdoms of power that are inconsistent across the organization because each "governor" let alone the "governed" may have their own definition of what adopting SOA. Even if you have stated policies, are those policies connected back to a stated goal? If not, how do you justify following the policies when people invariably resist the change?
How can a company find the best balance between “not enough” and “too much”?
I don't buy the whole not enough/too much argument. Every company has governance, it's more a question of how visible (and painful) it is. Adherence to policy needs to be easy and desirable. The key is to focus on your goals and education early and often so you don't find yourself in such a state where a heavy handed approach is the only way to make change happen in the desired timeframe.
Who in the company should be involved on the governance team? Should it just be architects or should developers or even users be involved as well.
It depends on the things that need to change, but in general, I would expect it to be a very broad set of roles. The book includes various architects, IT management, analysts, platform managers, and even representation outside of IT. If you need policies around how projects get defined and funded to ensure that the "right" services get built, it is certainly possible that business strategists, managers, and architects may be involved and those roles may come from outside of IT. Project-time or design-time governance policies may come from the senior technical staff within IT, while run-time governance may involve more of the IT operations staff.
You know that my blog, Agile Elephant, is focused on the human capital aspects of IT. So I have to ask how much and what aspects of the Governance process should be automated and what aspects need personal oversight?
Automation of auditing/enforcement is always good, and wherever possible, it should be used. Tools won't define the process, however, so you must have people in place to determine the best way to leverage the technology. There are many policies that are still difficult to codify, so people will still have a big role. My preference is that they focus on education first, though. Give people the knowledge and hopefully self-policing will handle the majority of things.
The book is called SOA Governance. Who is this book geared toward in the organization?
Senior leadership in IT: architects, managers, and technical leads. I don't consider it a technology book.
So, do you mind saving me a few bucks and telling me the Key to Successful SOA Adoption now?
Buy my book! Seriously, it is about effective governance. Define your goals and your desired behavior, then have your best people develop the policies and processes that will result in those goals and behavior. That is what governance is all about.
How can someone pick up a copy of the book?
It is available from the publisher at http://www.packtpub.com/soa-governance/book, as well as Amazon and other online bookstores.
Thanks for your time Todd! Best of luck with your book.
Thanks!
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