A spark of Agile can bring an SOA to life

Some parts of Agile practices are needed to get the first bits of an SOA (a service) off the ground. This manifestation will prove to skeptics that deploying a small piece of business functionality that actually delivers business value (Agile) is possible in the most adverse of circumstances. It proves that the oft-heard cop-out “that will never work here” is bunk.

That first service can then motivate others to make their own services. Providing a registry where the uninitiated can find existing services will then spark a trend where people not on the bleeding edge can adopt services. Note that such a registry initialy can be just web pages.

At this time, introducing a little bit of governance, i.e. some approval process as to which services are listed in the registry, will provide some level of standards.

Adding a services monitoring tool to the infrastructure will validate the use of certain services. If these metrics are available in the registry, then prospective users can see whether a service is actually used and is actually performing within desired specs. This will then spur reuse, which will allow for iterative improvements and additions.

SOA and Agile are locked in a virtuous circle that creates a helix of progress. each stage of SOA maturity will allow for a new phase of Agile maturity.