The New Language of Business: SOA & Web 2.0

Author: Sandy Carter Publisher: IBM Press, 2007 Pages: 320 ISBN: 978-013195654 Aimed at: Managers, analysts and software architects Rating: 4 Pros: Enthusiastic arguments aided by graphical presentation Cons: Tendency for unchecked evangelism Reviewed by: Sue Gee Given that author Sandy Carter is IBM’s Vice President for SOA and WebSphere strategy you might expect her book to be a product-related treatment of SOA but it isn’t. Its message hinges on a term coined in its opening chapters, “flex-pon-sive*” and I have to assume that the use of the asterisk is to highlight that this is a made-up word. According to Sandy’s definition, “a flex-pon-sive* business is about business effectiveness enabled by thoughtful, well-designed investments in IT focussed on business models and processes”. The payoff in this approach, it seems is having significantly better business results and the business flexibility is conferred by approaches like SOA and Web 2.0. The book includes lists of best practices and things not to do and has many potted case studies plus a more extensive one on IBM’s experience of adopting SOA. Along the way, it includes loads of diagrams and plenty of clear definitions – and it is in the area of communication that it may be of value to the developer. It explains jargon developers take for granted in terms that are understandable by business managers and vice versa.

Last Updated ( Friday, 30 January 2009 )