If you read this column and listen to my podcasts, you know that I call SOA what SOA is…an architectural pattern. In many instances, SOA is a vital component of healthy enterprise architecture. Indeed, I’ve provided some keynote talks around this very topic at about half-a-dozen enterprise architecture conferences to date. However, generally speaking, the enterprise architects out there still don’t “get” SOA, and they continue to do a poor-to-average job of creating enterprise architectures that…well…support their enterprise.

 By the way, those of you who will respond to this column and tell me that you’re doing well with your architecture, that’s fine. Unfortunately, dozens of you can be an exception to my observations, and it still doesn’t mean I’m wrong here. This is a systemic problem; however, there are clearly islands of success out there.