But Will You Respect Me In The Morning?

I suppose I should have embraced blogging some time ago but hindsight is truly 20/20. Then again, if I could really turn back the hands of time I would have made some very strategic investments and started blogging from my yacht anchored in Monaco about a multitude of vices. The main point trying to be made here is that I am a neophyte in this space but am a fast study so being kind for the first few posts is appreciated.

I’ve decided not to use my first blog on Pluralsight to talk about my CV, current position at Microsoft, or why peanut butter on toasted bread with banana drives my dog nuts. I’d rather engage with a thread that Don Box and Jeff Schneider have started. This thread is about the lack of messaging around how Microsoft uses SOA internally versus the perceived dollars spent on the evangelism of SOA.

First off, you should not encounter a Microsoft person actively talking about SOA much less about how we do a SOA internally. The main reason is that it’s hard to define what a SOA is much less having two people in the same room agree on it. Internally, this is for MS IT, we prefer to think in terms of Service-Orientation and how to apply it to our enterprise and business problems using available technology. I can speak at great lengths to how we do this internally as I was the architect doing R&D on the subject matter for over three years and still maintain a healthy relationship with MS IT. Part of what we've done internally can be shown by projects that participated in our technology or other blogs such as Roy Osherove's. The analyst briefings, some stories around Connected Systems, and executive briefings showcase what we've done and elucidate our thought leadership and innovation.

Before we start venturing down the rabbit hole there are several things that need to be in place. This isn’t about skirting the issue at hand but setting the context so that in the future more of how we do it can be appreciated and understood.

Anonymous person following the word du jour, “I already understand all about SOA, just tell me how YOU did it!” Why thank you anonymous and whilst I appreciate your tenacity for keeping up on relevant technologies and architectural trends whose version of SOA are you using? Some say the vagueness of what a SOA is constitutes the reason for its success. This lack of clarity isn’t quite what it seems. Most companies will flex and distort the term so that it best aligns with what they are able to deliver or execute on and not strive for a more concrete structure that would expose weakness on their part. I’d like to avoid that pitfall if at all possible, thank you very much.

The beginning of all things that must work together stems around one thing: communication. There is a fair bit of irony in the fact that SOA is meant to streamline communication and interoperability yet people can’t even begin to speak to its composition or capabilities in any plurality. This lack of taxonomy and perspective is the cause of a major semantic dissonance. A call to action is to think about how to look at this problem and the enablers required to facilitate a proper dialogue that is based on empirical data versus speculation and gratuitous marketing.

Thought continuation soon to follow!