Monday, July 04, 2005
"The important thing is not to stop questioning" - Albert Einstein. So, why do you want a SOA & What's the motive behind having one?
"The important thing is not to stop questioning" - Albert Einstein. So... why do you want an SOA & what is its purpose?
To answer that, let's go back to the basics. Let's outline the biggest 'charms' of the SOA:
1. Adaptive / Agile Enterprise - The ability to change
It is the ability of an enterprise to "change". Why is the ability to change that important? Because, it is not an option. Change is good, change is inevitable, change is now and forever, change is every instant that passes by.
What does it mean when we talk about the 'adaptive' enterprise? Let's look at an enterprise as a 'system' in its entirety. Also, this system is composed of several interacting sub-systems that 'influence' each other. These sub-systems can primarily be 'classified' into these broad categories :
- People Systems
- Information Systems
- Business Systems
- Physical Systems
- Process Systems
- Cross System Interfaces (or Cross System Association Points)
(For the business people.. I would term this is 'Cross System Association Points', since 'interface' has become so much of an IT term that it might be misleading in this context.)
Quite brilliant, but I think that, this is a very unidirectional approach to the "whole" system. If people have the ability to influence Business and IT Systems (taken as a set of paths of influence), there need to be other paths of stimuli that influence 'other categories' of systems to bring about a cohesive and holistic view.
These paths "need" to be incorporated into the "whole" system. The question is.. How? and Why? What are these paths of influence going to be?
Lets approach the "why" first. The following side note outlines the reason behind the importance of the precedence on "why" versus the "how".
Why?
Why do we need these paths of inter-subsystem influence?
Any and every system works on a simple and basic princple of 'Cause' and 'Effect'. In systems engineering and electrical systems when you model 'influences' on a system (internal and/or external) it is very important to determine, understand and balance these influences so that the system can be designed to achieve a steady state or reach a certain composite steady state (that consists of a set of controlled and easily manageable steady states) under the course of these influences. To achieve such state(s) the paths of influence that exist can not be ignored.
This is what actually happens in an Enterprise. But, it is not feasible to determine or utilize all these paths of influence. The goal should be to minimize this effect by incorporating as many 'significant' paths as possible.
When a system incorporates positive or negative feedback, it is an example of a path of influence.
How?
How do we devise, design, implement, achieve and further prune these paths of inter-subsystem influence?
That would be an interesting exercise... an exercise that I am currently going through... Once again, I shall leave this for another post when I have more time to dwell on it, since this post has been in 'draft' mode for almost 2 months for the lack of this little section.
2. Transparent Enterprise / Total Business Visibility - The ability to not just see clearly, but "know"
An Enterprise contains a mesh of many tapped and untapped, cleansed and raw pieces of information. Having visibility into the right kind of information, presented in the right way, at the right time can be critical to decisions. But, this information is usually distributed, inaccessible or not conveniently available to the right people, at the right time.
How can we define 'Total Business Visibility' (TBV)?
TBV means, 'perspectives' that are not normally visible are enabled. It allows a given individual or set of individuals to have better information to make better decisions. It allows an enterprise and all its pieces to work with better alignment due to the increased visibility into the operations, processes and activities of the enterprise.
Total Business Visibility means real-time visibility into what is happening at any given time. It allows sales teams, finance folks, HR, Technologists and Managers to see information clearly.
To understand what information needs to be made visible to individuals in an Enterprise we will have to look into 'Perspective Management'.
During some discussions a few months back (exact date is logged... will need to look it up), I coined the phrase 'perspective matching'. I have searched quite a bit on the internet and have yet to find anyone claiming the phrase. So, from this point on I shall claim rights, copyrights and trademark rights to the following phrases.
"Perspective Matching"
"Matching Perspectives"
(unless ofcourse someone else had already done so and can prove that to me in writing).
Copyright 2005 - Abhishek Sanwal, Trademark (in the registration process).
PS: My next post which has also been in draft for quite a while shall be on 'Perspective Matching' and 'Enterprise Perspectives'.
To answer that, let's go back to the basics. Let's outline the biggest 'charms' of the SOA:
1. Adaptive / Agile Enterprise - The ability to change
It is the ability of an enterprise to "change". Why is the ability to change that important? Because, it is not an option. Change is good, change is inevitable, change is now and forever, change is every instant that passes by.
Side Note:
Business gurus have talked about "change" for a long time, especially on Harvard Business Review (HBR). My introduction to "change" on the HBR via the following articles had taken the formal shape of an ingrained mental anchor (Why Good Companies Go Bad, Why Do Employees Resist Change?). I am glad I took that 'Engineering Management' class.
What does it mean when we talk about the 'adaptive' enterprise? Let's look at an enterprise as a 'system' in its entirety. Also, this system is composed of several interacting sub-systems that 'influence' each other. These sub-systems can primarily be 'classified' into these broad categories :
- People Systems
- Information Systems
- Business Systems
- Physical Systems
- Process Systems
- Cross System Interfaces (or Cross System Association Points)
(For the business people.. I would term this is 'Cross System Association Points', since 'interface' has become so much of an IT term that it might be misleading in this context.)
- A real SOA would allow all of the above systems to "change" and "adapt" quickly, in an organized, controlled and measured fashion with respect to all 'association points', whether or not the change was internal to that category of the sub-system or another category via a cross system interface.
- At the same time the processes that make these changes these changes happen need to be managed as well.
Quite brilliant, but I think that, this is a very unidirectional approach to the "whole" system. If people have the ability to influence Business and IT Systems (taken as a set of paths of influence), there need to be other paths of stimuli that influence 'other categories' of systems to bring about a cohesive and holistic view.
These paths "need" to be incorporated into the "whole" system. The question is.. How? and Why? What are these paths of influence going to be?
Lets approach the "why" first. The following side note outlines the reason behind the importance of the precedence on "why" versus the "how".
Side Note:This is why I believe in the "why" factor.
My grandfather's (Mr. S.S. Sanwal) brother (Mr. H.S. Sanwal, also grandpa) says"There was a time when parents would direct and children would obey. That was the culture. Times have changed. Now, with your current generation (he talks about us..) its not a matter of 'how?', but a matter of 'why?'. If you can convince them 'why?', the 'how?', is pretty much take care of by them."
When this comes from someone who has
...it makes complete sense that people are the binding element no matter where you go. Hence, the "why" factor is important for today's generation in every aspect of life.
- held positions of a President, VP, Chairman and Director (prior to retiring), at enterprises in the manufacturing space (Paper, Rubber, Plastics, Cement, Chemicals, Optic Fibre industries)
- understood people at their core (from Management to Labor in an enterprise or from little children to elders in a large joint family)
Why?
Why do we need these paths of inter-subsystem influence?
Any and every system works on a simple and basic princple of 'Cause' and 'Effect'. In systems engineering and electrical systems when you model 'influences' on a system (internal and/or external) it is very important to determine, understand and balance these influences so that the system can be designed to achieve a steady state or reach a certain composite steady state (that consists of a set of controlled and easily manageable steady states) under the course of these influences. To achieve such state(s) the paths of influence that exist can not be ignored.
This is what actually happens in an Enterprise. But, it is not feasible to determine or utilize all these paths of influence. The goal should be to minimize this effect by incorporating as many 'significant' paths as possible.
When a system incorporates positive or negative feedback, it is an example of a path of influence.
How?
How do we devise, design, implement, achieve and further prune these paths of inter-subsystem influence?
That would be an interesting exercise... an exercise that I am currently going through... Once again, I shall leave this for another post when I have more time to dwell on it, since this post has been in 'draft' mode for almost 2 months for the lack of this little section.
2. Transparent Enterprise / Total Business Visibility - The ability to not just see clearly, but "know"
An Enterprise contains a mesh of many tapped and untapped, cleansed and raw pieces of information. Having visibility into the right kind of information, presented in the right way, at the right time can be critical to decisions. But, this information is usually distributed, inaccessible or not conveniently available to the right people, at the right time.
How can we define 'Total Business Visibility' (TBV)?
TBV means, 'perspectives' that are not normally visible are enabled. It allows a given individual or set of individuals to have better information to make better decisions. It allows an enterprise and all its pieces to work with better alignment due to the increased visibility into the operations, processes and activities of the enterprise.
Total Business Visibility means real-time visibility into what is happening at any given time. It allows sales teams, finance folks, HR, Technologists and Managers to see information clearly.
To understand what information needs to be made visible to individuals in an Enterprise we will have to look into 'Perspective Management'.
During some discussions a few months back (exact date is logged... will need to look it up), I coined the phrase 'perspective matching'. I have searched quite a bit on the internet and have yet to find anyone claiming the phrase. So, from this point on I shall claim rights, copyrights and trademark rights to the following phrases.
"Perspective Matching"
"Matching Perspectives"
(unless ofcourse someone else had already done so and can prove that to me in writing).
Copyright 2005 - Abhishek Sanwal, Trademark (in the registration process).
PS: My next post which has also been in draft for quite a while shall be on 'Perspective Matching' and 'Enterprise Perspectives'.
