Looks like my previous posting on this topic was pretty timely. Joe McKendrick (over at ZDNet) just today talked about SOA governance stifling agility.
In Joe's article, he asked the question of whether or not we need a new name for SOA Governance (and that he's always thought that SOA Management fit the bill). If we wanted to give "SOA Governance" a marketing makeover, here's a few slogans SOA Governance advocates might use:
- With SOA Governance, make the A in SOA mean Agility.
- A lack of Service Oriented Behavior got you down? Try SOA Governance.
- Tired of project teams ignoring you?Implement SOA Governance to show them who's in charge.
- Policies? We don't need no stinking policies, we've got SOA Governance.
- Can't stomach that last wafer thin policy? Better get a bucket of SOA Governance.
- You want the truth? You can't handle the truth... unless you've got SOA Governance to pretty it up.
OK, so maybe it's hard to come up with catchy slogans for SOA Governance. None of this solves the real problem with SOA Governance: SOA governance is often implemented as too much stick and not enough carrot. Too much of a barrier and not enough of an enabler. Too many policies with too little measurable value. Unless these issues are addressed, no amount of marketing, magic quadrants, or vendor testimonials are going to make SOA Governance successful in most organizations.