Why the Government could Lead Us to the SOA Promised Land

What? The US Government leading technology? Not sure that makes sense right? Wrong.

In working on a few projects, both commercial and government, I’ve come to the conclusion that many of the government organizations are both bullish on SOA, and are actually blazing trails that most in the commercial sector has yet to attempt.

This is very different from the government IT work of my youth, where they were more about commodity and short-term cost savings, than long term strategic use of technology. However, things have changed, and for the better. As a tax payer, I could not be happier.

The core patterns that I’m seeing with my government clients are:

Holistic use of SOA to manage IT assets intra-agency. Meaning that they are looking to leverage SOA for a specific domain, typically

Holistic use of SOA to manage IT assets inter-agency. Meaning that they are looking to share services and information across government, and are looking to do this to provide long term value.

Ability to attract and maintain key SOA talent to move them towards their goals. This means key contractors, and key government hires…people who seem to understand the larger issues, as well as the tactics.

The funding required to accomplish the task.

Clear understanding of the risks, and the benefits.

Of course, like the commercial world these guys will have their challenges moving forward, and it’s a marathon not a sprint, a journey not a project (okay, I’ll stop saying this in 2007). However, it’s most encouraging to see key government entities cleaning up their architectural acts, leveraging the pieces of the notion of SOA that will work for them. In the long term, things should run better and cheaper, and these guys could provide key data points that will benefit implementation of SOA in the corporate world.