Comments on: A 15-Minute Guide to SOA and ECM http://wordofpie.com/2008/01/03/a-15-minute-guide-to-soa-and-ecm/ Ponderings on Life, the Universe, and Information Fri, 10 Feb 2012 22:28:54 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: leecsmith http://wordofpie.com/2008/01/03/a-15-minute-guide-to-soa-and-ecm/#comment-2669 Wed, 09 Jan 2008 21:46:41 +0000 http://wordofpie.wordpress.com/2008/01/03/a-15-minute-guide-to-soa-and-ecm/#comment-2669 Good comments. I read the paper this morning and felt like it was bubbling up into something interesting and then fell off the edge of the cliff somewhere with a very sudden stop. I would have liked to have seen more discussion on what they have done and some rationale around the granularity of the services which they have exposed.

]]> By: Chris Campbell http://wordofpie.com/2008/01/03/a-15-minute-guide-to-soa-and-ecm/#comment-2553 Fri, 04 Jan 2008 14:45:45 +0000 http://wordofpie.wordpress.com/2008/01/03/a-15-minute-guide-to-soa-and-ecm/#comment-2553 I noticed the link to the paper, so I stopped reading your blog entry and read it myself, then went back to your blog entry so I would try to be unbiased as possible. I have to say, that I agree with your conclusion. The paper does a great job explaining what SOA is and the possibilities, but then ends with a whimper.

I’ll critique this like any high school essay. From the foreword, I’m expecting the following key points to be addressed: 1) What is SOA? 2) What benefits does it give me? 3) How does it fit in with ECM? This guide actually does a pretty good job doing that.

However, the next paragraph seems like it’s from a previous draft, because it restates differently the key points: 1) What is SOA? 2) There are 5 key benefits it gives you. 3) The relationship between SOA and web services. 4) How SOA fits in with ECM. 5) How has EMC used SOA *principles* to redesign its content management platform? (I’ll touch on why principles is a key word.)

So, now there are 2 extra points that are going to be covered. Overall, the guide covers 1 through 4 pretty well. It’s point 5 that is glossed over. Fluff is an accurate description. By the next to the last page of the guide, I’m pretty sold on the idea of SOA. In writing an essay or in marketing, usually your last point is going to be your strongest. The is the point where if you haven’t been already convinced, this last bullet point is going to seal the deal.

Problem is that it ends up being a summary of what has already been told. “SOA is great!” So where is the info on how EMC redesigned the platform around SOA? It’s just one sentence: “In terms of content management, EMC has completely re-architected its Documentum applications programming interface (API) to meet the requirements of a services architecture.” And? And?!? I’m left hanging.

That’s where I’ve been suckered by marketing speak. The answer to Point 5 is really, “Yes. We used SOA in D6 by following the principles you just read.” Using that magic word “principles” a marketing guy can then put up a diagram that illustrates the “principle”.

I’m not exactly sure where the actual link to the guide is on the EMC site (the PDF is in the software section, but is the link in Marketing or the Developer section? I’ll check later.) but perhaps the problem is that the audience for this guide isn’t or shouldn’t be directed at the developer. It’s a good primer on SOA to be sure, but I see it more as marketing material rather than an actual white paper.

I’ve got my own thoughts about SOA and Documentum that I’ll post later (or I should just start my own blog). Overall, a great summary of what SOA that your boss can read or to help others understand what you’re doing, but to those who were expecting a peek into some of the actual API and structure exposed, you are going to be disappointed.

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