SOA governance: Is it really necessary or is it a waste of time?

In IT publications and conferences, the term "governance" has been constantly mentioned for some time, but in terms of technology, these discussions are usually at best nowhere near. This article starts with the basic concept of IT governance, and the governance of the design phase and subsequent runtime is a good guide for developers.

Imagine an organization that is implementing an SOA project. Everyone is excited by the adequacy of the project budget and new business and technology opportunities-it seems like the opportunity is coming, but everybody feels a certain amount of pressure at the same time. When we met the "SOA governance" lady, she was responsible for ensuring that everything about the service was working. Governance women need to focus on the general direction of SOA and the interests of the Organization as a whole. She is not involved in day-to-day business and does not care about technical details, but she will develop strategies, assign tasks and oversee projects throughout. For example, you must ensure that the costs are as good as possible, and that the services you implement can serve the business as well as possible. Although the ruling lady is respected by everyone, she is sometimes very strict and does not even give the project manager and the senior architect a face. Of course, she can eventually report directly to top management and shareholders ... This made her speech very convincing. In other words, the governance of women has almost the highest right in the company's SOA at least.

But wait, isn't this a management job? Does management not care about the success or failure of SOA? The theory is right. But actually (you should know the gap between theory and practice!) , managers always have their own (and sometimes even secret) intentions, which are often contrary to the Organization's long-term goals. For example, project managers are more concerned with project progress than strategic goals. As a result, Ms. Governance plays the role of some kind of super manager who cares only about the organization itself. She wants to encourage and enforce the "desired approach". Her job is to control the law and order-not to be polite.

Her responsibilities could be modelled on the new guidelines for "SOA governance". The job is not to create more fun, or to use the latest technology-but to care about how much money is spent and how much of it returns. This is why SOA governance is less popular among our developers and architects, because once this governance process is established, their (and, of course, myself included!). The pleasures of life will be reduced. But it can be sure that it will keep your organization or business healthy-even if it is worth the loss.

Before we go into the details of SOA governance, let me explain one of her favorite motto in managing the woman's massive knowledge Base: "Businesses and organizations need two things that look contradictory." ”

First, they need "order and control": they need legal, trial and violent institutions ... This is governance. The caveat: Whether your software developers or architects like it or not, be sure to put you in the realm of governance.

Moreover, they need freedom, creative space and a positive working environment, especially for mental workers. This is also the goal of the whole "agile" movement.

Especially in IT organizations, order and control are often considered to be the opposite of improving the productivity of mental workers. I'm not talking about totalitarianism here: governance wants to be in the right amount of control to make the business and it more consistent (say more, less successful) because the IT staff usually don't care about the business and the business people ignore us doing it. But their close cooperation is crucial to the success of the business!

Therefore, the governance is necessary, the right amount of governance is the guarantee of enterprise success. Harvard professor Weill and Ross can prove that successful IT governance means higher returns! and lack of governance means long-term high risk of failure.

Background

Before we go into the details, we should take a look at the whole family of governance (see the "Governance hierarchy"): The Lady of Governance lives in a big family. Her big sister calls herself corporate governance, nicknamed "Lady Inspector". She has the second world peace goal: to ensure that anything that happens in a business is good for the business. In short: She is concerned about the value and wealth of the business.

Figure 1: Governance level

The next one to talk about is managing the little sister of the lady, it governance. Her work focuses on it and business relationships. Many online and traditional media have detailed descriptions of this (it governance), such as [ITGOVBB] of the IT Governance Association (ITGI), or an excellent book, "It Governance", co-authored by Peter Weill and Jeanne Ross. [Weillross]. Her responsibilities and tasks determine the responsibilities and tasks of the SOA governance Lady we have just met.

The following figure is the "core area of IT governance", excerpted from [Itgovbb], which describes the task of it governance. It's too abstract, isn't it?

Figure 2:it Core areas of governance

IT governance

It governance is the foundation of SOA governance--in an SOA organization, two kinds of governance must work together. It governance needs to ensure that all it-related activities are aligned with organizational goals and provide support for the organization's long-term development. It governance Masters Peter Weill and Jeanne Ross are well defined as "a framework for the right decision and commitment to encourage the desired it behavior" (excerpted from [Weillross]). Or, governance should encourage the desired behavior. It provides an appropriate "order and control" framework that provides the necessary control of individuals and processes to avoid chaotic behavior while providing the business with sufficient freedom to thrive.

When I first came into contact with governance, I found it very difficult to relate it to reality. So let's take a practical example to see what the desired behavior is--excerpted from [ashar+07]:

"In the last 12 months, why are there so many hybrid cars registered in California State?" Is it because of the federal tax concession that gives the hybrid owner more than 1500 dollars? Or is it a luxury to enjoy a person in the rush hour driving in a dedicated driveway? Or is California State starting to pay more attention to the environment? Whatever the real reason, the reality is that these policies are encouraging the desired behavior-buying low-energy cars. This is an example of governance: policy is guiding the desired outcome.

It's easy, isn't it? Now you ask: how does it governance achieve this goal? How do you guide the desired behavior in the IT field?

The answer lies in the following four questions that must be answered by our IT Governance Lady:

What it decisions should be taken?

Which roles or people should these decisions be executed by?

How do you implement these decisions?

How do you monitor the results of these decisions?

It sounds complicated, doesn't it? The following figure "key governance issues" summarizes these issues:

Figure 3: Key governance issues