I was listening to talk radio this weekend, and to a gentleman who was selling a book that made the case that humans work better when using incentives. I could not agree more, in my tenure as both a CTO and a CEO I always made sure incentives where there beyond the normal wage. In essence you're putting a portion of their compensation at risk, based on the performance of the company. So, if that's the case why n I was listening to talk radio this weekend, and to a gentleman who was selling a book that made the case that humans work better when using incentives. I could not agree more, in my tenure as both a CTO and a CEO I always made sure incentives where there beyond the normal wage. In essence you’re putting a portion of their compensation at risk, based on the performance of the company. So, if that’s the case why not bonuses to SOA architects, project leaders, governance specialists, and developers who build something that impacts the company’s bottom line, positively, if done correctly? Hear me out on this. If you’ve been reading my stuff I always stress the need to define the business case up front, thus the value SOA brings to the business. You can define both the value of agility and reuse, hard and soft dollars. In essence, it does not make sense that you move forward with the SOA unless it has a very positive impact on the bottom line. So, we can consider that the objective of the project, to live up to the business case. Enter the SOA project, and a team of people who are tasked with building the SOA. I think it makes perfect sense to sit down with those men and woman and define a plan whereas if they deliver on the promise of the business case, and do it on schedule, that they would receive monetary compensation. I think that 10 percent of the money saved would be a good place to start, divided among the team. Of course, there are some key questions, such as: How do you figure out the value of agility longer term when you’re defining short term compensation? What metrics to you leverage for cost savings around reuse? What’s if the potential savings are not really there longer term, do you pull back the bonuses? I’m sure you have a few questions of your own. However, the concept is sound. Indeed, providing incentives to a team of people who are driving change in the business, that will positively impact the business, is just a good idea. We do the same things for sales people, executives, and board members. It’s a win/win. Indeed, if they don’t do their jobs and the desired results are not achieved, there is no payout. However, if the company wins big so do those who got them there, in essence paid out of the savings to the company. Something to think about as we move SOA from the “talking phases” into the “project phases,” as is occurring now. By the way, don’t forget to attend the InfoWorld SOA Executive Forum coming up on May 15th and the 16th, in New York. I’ll be there, will you? Software Development