Joe McKendrick, ebizQ's SOA in Action Blogger, is a nationally published author and consultant
with deep knowledge and insights regarding trends and developments in
the technology industry. He is a contributing editor to a number of
national and international publications and Websites including
Database Trends & Applications, ZDNet, and Webservices.Org. He also
serves as analyst for Evans Data Corp., and is lead analyst for Evans'
Web services and enterprise development management issues surveys.
SOA in Action Blog
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« Can Success Throw Your SOA Off Balance? | Main | SOA: The 'Ultimate Justification' for Virtualization » March 26, 2007The Four Greatest Mistakes Companies Make in SOA RFPs The best request for proposal (RFP) for SOA may be one that doesn't even mention SOA. ZapThink's Jason Bloomberg recently dove into an oft-overlooked aspect of SOA -- how to prepare a request for proposal from a vendor. "SOA is something you do, not something you buy," Jason reminds us. Therefore, simply sending out RFPs to a few vendors will not cut it. "Putting together RFPs for SOA initiatives is fraught with perils," he writes. "What precisely do you want the third party to do for you?" Jason points out the greatest mistakes companies make when issuing RFPs for SOA-related projects: Confusing architecture with implementation: RFPs should say nothing about the specific technology you might expect your provider to bring to bear... steer clear of any vendor who says that you'll get SOA by buying any specific product." Trying to do too much: Don't try to put together a "hugely detailed RFP that delineates everything your provider would be expected to do." There are too many unknowns, Jason points out. Expecting vendors to put SOA advice in their response: Ask for customer references instead. Expecting to be able to compare proposals via purely objective criteria: "Formal criteria are woefully inadequate for evaluating proposals for SOA-related professional services, because there is so much variation from one organization to another among SOA approaches. As a result, such objective criteria are bound to focus on less important details (frequently technical capabilities), rather than the more important architectural and human interaction skills." Step by step, one step at a time is the best rule for putting together an RFP, Jason says. And, he wisely suggests, don't even mention SOA in the RFP. "Instead of delineating some approach to solving the problems in the RFP, put your energy into describing the problems and let the provider respond with their own approach for solving them." Posted by joemckendrick in SOA | Digg This | Add to del.icio.us Trackback Pings TrackBack URL for this entry:
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