July 16th, 2007
More top-down versus bottom-up SOA
Todd Biske provides additional insights on the top-down versus bottom-up SOA discussion that recently appeared on this blogsite.
Which approach is better? Neither and both, Todd explains, who notes that “there aren’t too many companies that can take a completely top-down approach.”
The bottom line is that “there’s no way you can be successful with solely a bottom-up or top-down approach. It’s like making financial decisions. If you live paycheck to paycheck without any notion of a budget, you’re always going to be struggling. If you develop an extensive budget down to the penny, but then never refer to it when you actually spend money, again, you’re always going to be struggling.”
Such is the case with SOA and enterprise architecture, he says:
“If you don’t have appropriate planning in place to actually make decisions on what projects should be happening and how they should be scoped, you’re going to struggle. If the scope of those projects is continually sacrificed to meet some short term goal (typically some scheduling constraint), again, you’re going to struggle.”
The key is balance, Todd says. Top-down provides the widest scope possible, while bottom-up provides the deepest focus possible. Strive for both — not one over the other.
Joe McKendrick is an author and consultant with deep knowledge and insights regarding trends and developments in the technology industry. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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