tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8662858581791799812.post6969465250678059346..comments2009-01-15T16:44:27.767+01:00Oscar Berghttps://profiles.google.com/109479022314471643787noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8662858581791799812.post-88501985896935569192009-01-15T15:46:00.000+01:002009-01-15T15:46:00.000+01:00"...It it might be time to ... talk about tangible benefits and what is required to achieve those benefits."<BR/>Absolutely right. You have to remember your audience in order to communicate effectively. Management and boards are interested in the benefit a technology provides, not the acronym or concept or even the provider. All too often, IT professionals need a course on "How to present IT to non-IT specialists".Nicholas Hawtinnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8662858581791799812.post-89112292754789534172009-01-14T17:19:00.000+01:002009-01-14T17:19:00.000+01:00Thank you for the clarification Anne.<BR/><BR/>I personally believe we hit our heads against the wall when trying to explain SOA because we too often focus on explaining what it is instead of explaining and demonstrating the benefits. If you want to sell a house to someone, you would probably not do so by describing the architecture or construction. The customer does not need to (and does not want to) know too much about those things. A much more successful sales approach would be to help the customer to envision how it will be to live in the house, the help the customer see and experience all the benefits that the new house will bring to the life of the customer.<BR/><BR/>It this sense, it might be time to drop or at least tone down the term SOA and instead talk about tangible benefits and what is required to achieve those benefits. Talking about services is then more tangible than talking about architecture.Oscar Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13364324951599654650noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8662858581791799812.post-52308238222033230032009-01-14T17:01:00.000+01:002009-01-14T17:01:00.000+01:00It's not that I'm bored with SOA. I am tired of hitting my head against the wall trying to explain that SOA is in fact about architecture, not just about integration. But more than that, I'm trying to make a point that the funding review board is likely to cut any project entitled "SOA" this year. IT Groups should instead focus on better defined projects that deliver real value.Anne Thomas Maneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12283197990602675422noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8662858581791799812.post-20192804282124784452009-01-14T15:57:00.000+01:002009-01-14T15:57:00.000+01:00Great point. Eventually no one will care whether the technology or concept in question was called enterprise architecture or SOA or something entirely different. It will simply be functional - and taken for granted, like the telephone and the wheel.Nicholas Hawtinnoreply@blogger.com