I know, at first glance it looks like the cramming together of 3 loosely defined and oft-debated buzzwords into the title, but got your attention didn’t it? So if you will bear with me for a few minutes, I will explain how applying Agile to a much more abstract of an activity such as building an SOA Governance Framework works.

SOA Governance is a fluid concept, with many differing, complementary, and overlapping point of views. Is it a framework focused on lifecycle management of service assets? How does it integrate with existing governance frameworks around other IT components such as infrastructure, database, packaged applications? Or should it be focused around the monitoring and management of business capabilities. The discussion could go on forever.

Because of this fluidity, I’ve seen two major problems come up again and again with clients when it comes to creating an SOA Governance Framework:

1. The client has invested in a shiny new SOA Governance Framework complete with templates, registries and repositories, architectural review boards, the works. It takes a year to roll out. And the moment it’s done, people start finding scenarios that don’t fit within the framework; do not apply it consistently; or refuse to use it altogether.
2. Various architects within the client organization can’t agree on the scope, focus, or business case around such an ambiguous concept as SOA Governance, so it keeps on getting pushed off.

The reason why the first problem occurs is that organizations are treating Governance like a traditional application build project. You need to define it all up front and build it once. And that can only lead to an SOA Governance Framework, or any Governance Framework for that matter, which is out-of-date before it’s even delivered. Governance needs to constantly evolve to adapt to the changes in an organization. Is the organization moving from being IT focused to being business focused? Is there an increased uptake in COTS implementations over custom development? Is the organization moving to an offshore support model? All of these changes in the organization will impact how the services should be governed. In short, the way the SOA Governance Framework is developed and managed over time needs to be flexible and adaptable to change. Sounds like Agile, doesn’t it?

The same general mentality also leads to the second problem: the idea that the SOA Governance Framework has to be perfect and all-encompassing the first time around. The fact of the matter is that instead of being stuck in analysis paralysis, we’re always better off with having something rather than nothing. Even an imperfectly managed SOA landscape is better than a completely unmanaged landscape. One of the key tenets of SOA is to enable continuous improvement of business capabilities and efficiency by building it out in loosely coupled modules. So why can’t we implement a SOA Governance Framework by starting small and building up additional components as we learn more about the landscape and become more experienced in working with it. Isn’t it better to solve a real problem that we encounter than to create a solution in anticipation of a problem? Once again, sounds a bit like Agile, doesn’t it?

That was a long preamble. So here’s our approach:

1. Get the organization to agree on a core set of SOA Governance deliverables, creating a baseline of the framework. In Agile terms, this list is our backlog and includes:
   – a Service Definition template
   – a Service Contract template
   – a Taxonomy
   – a Service Registry and Repository
   – and some kind of org chart from at least a support perspective
2. For each deliverable defined in the backlog, analyze whether something similar already exists in the organization today or needs to be created. Group similar/relevant deliverables together (ie. Service Definition template with Service Contract template). Implement it and deliver it to the organization. These are our sprints.
3. While operating our SOA landscape, constantly be on the lookout for areas to improve. Did we have any services that didn’t fit the definition template? Did we have a project that identified inefficiencies within the architectural review process? Is the service inventory becoming too cumbersome to manage? Are people adhering to the change management process and if not, why? Was there a re-org that requires us to rethink the key roles and responsibilities? Frame these into deliverables and put them into the backlog.

The key to success here is continuously looking at the applicability and appropriateness of the framework and keep it aligned to the rest of the organization. If the users of the framework start to feel like they have to shoehorn something into a structure that no longer works for them, they will cease to use it. So don’t fall into that trap and let’s apply some agility to our SOA Governance initiatives.