All:
SOA’s f*cked, some say, but I don’t hold with the naysayers.
Anne Thomas Manes of Burton Group has spread this notion that SOA’s a failure because few enterprises have come anywhere close to the nirvana of 100 percent service reuse. But my feeling is that that’s like saying democracy’s a failure because we’ve never come close to 100 percent voter turnout in any specific election.
If you like, you can posit a utopian ideal and then declare the world a failure because it hasn’t signed up to your vision. Or you can declare your vision a vision and then commit yourself to pushing the world in that direction little by little for the rest of your life. The open issue is: Do you see yourself living this vision till the end of your days? Can you live with the possibility that your vision, however much it gives your life purpose, is regarded by others as an impractical pet cause that sets you apart from the pack, and not in a good way?
If you’re prepared to push that boulder up a hill, if you’re so bold that you can’t rest till your vision is in everybody’s sights, then you’re a true visionary. And you might stand a chance of succeeding against all odds. Then you’re the Al Gore of SOA, weathering disdain with full knowledge that the facts bear you out and history will judge you kindly.
If a bare majority consistently sides with your vision, fate will ordain your architecture.
Jim
