WOA/REST have the same problem that SOA has. In order to sell an architectural concept to a business person, you have to associate it with a value proposition. For SOA, the value proposition was "reduced cost and increased agility". The problem, though, was providing evidence of success. I met a handful of companies that experienced phenomenal success with SOA (when it was part of a larger IT transformation effort), but most companies did not achieve lower costs and increased agility. Individual integration projects were successful, but as a whole, the SOA initiative failed.
So tell me what the WOA/REST meme means in terms of business value? (Hint: "simpler than SOA" is not a value proposition that will resonate with a business guy). "Doing business like Amazon" won't resonate with a manufacturing company. "Building Web sites that give us better contact with our customers" is too low-level. Anne On Mon, Jan 12, 2009 at 6:41 AM, Mike <[email protected]> wrote: > Steve Jones wrote: >> 2009/1/11 Nick Gall <[email protected]>: >> >>> On Sat, Jan 10, 2009 at 3:49 PM, Anne Thomas Manes <[email protected]> >>> wrote: >>> >>>> Exactly my point. You don't sell SOA or REST to an executive. Even the >>>> Web is a tough sell. What you sell them is the Amazon/Google IT >>>> operational model (at least in the case of Bechtel). >>>> >>> Agreed. You sell the Web to the business. The you sell WOA/REST to IT as >>> part of the approach for delivering the Web. The beauty of this approach >>> is >>> that the business already knows about the Web, already believes it has >>> game-changing possibilities, etc. >>> >> >> Which is why they have websites... that doesn't mean that REST follows >> from Web. >> > > I don't understand the point you are making here. If we assume SOA is on > the agenda; why has WOA/REST suddenly evaporated as a viable approach? > >> >>> The problem with SOA is there is no concrete success story comparable to >>> the >>> Web to point business people to. >>> >> >> Probably the company that they run and certainly the way that they >> perceive the globalised economy. >> >> I've always sold SOA as being about making IT work like the business. >> The Web isn't that (see my paraphrase of a real overheard >> conversation) its a technology. >> > > The Web isn't, but WOA is? > >> You can have WOA in a SOA world, but WOA will never get beyond the >> technology (IMO) while SOA is best done at the business level > Don't understand this either; would you mind elaborating, please? > > Regards, > Mike > >
