Monday, July 28, 2008

Human Side of SOA

At CIO, they recently profiled a chapter from the book Executing SOA: A Practical Guide for the Service-Oriented Architect. SOA can result in the collaboration and a change in the system both affects the workers and the management of the system. Changes in the system can mean behavioral changes in employees and management and changes in the roles of all employees, with cooperation of all parties a high priority.

This article defines the following as important for service oriented people in the enterprise. Here’s the list from the book about managers:

  • Primarily act as observers instead of directors (who issue top-down orders).
  • Monitor the business (adequate tools and systems support this).
  • Define rules and processes, such as building a constitution that includes the fundamental laws for the company (golden rule or constitution).
  • Recognize talents and temperaments as well as know the skills of the employees to staff roles/pools (act as mentors for personal development—especially matching talents and temperaments, not just acquired skills and experiences, to the tasks).
  • Allow satisfying freedom to the employees under the set rules (equivalent to the loosely coupling of services in an SOA).
  • Motivate employees by addressing the individual talents and preferred tasks. (This applies especially to people managers who are responsible for dedicated teams, versus business generals who are in charge of the overall corporate directions and are not dealing with daily execution at the bottom.)

Do you agree with all these points? Would you add any?

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