Happy New Year!   Well, actually it is a happy new year for Hewlett-Packard as our Fiscal year 2010 began November 1^st.   

As I look back at 2009 it was a very interesting year for SOA... First, SOA was dead, and then the SOA zombies started blogging and talking about what is working about SOA.  

 Later in the year, given the economic situation, the blogging turned much more pragmatic with discussions regarding whether SOA efforts could be sustained in this cost-cutting environment.  

 I think we've ended up in a good place now in terms of the energy and discussion around SOA.  Most of what I'm reading now and throughout the discussions I'm engaging in involve talk about best practices and pragmatic advice.  We know SOA is here to stay, now let's talk about those organizations and proven processes that really put SOA to work and return results to the business.

 That said, there's been a bunch of good discussion on eBizQ.  Last week, eBizQ had their SOA in Action virtual conference.  One of the best sessions was the keynote from Forrester's Randy Heffner who laid out how to resolve the biggest SOA mistakes (the "seven deadly SOA sins" of sorts)  - and two of them dealt with not enough focus on Governance.  Listen to Randy's replay here.

 Secondly, the eBizQ forums are buzzing with practical SOA advice... Check out these threads:

In SOA Governance, who has the authority?

 This thread has some great discussion about thinking about governance -vs.- authority and the benefits of using a Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM) to define, communicate and manage governance decisions and accountability.

  Is SOA ever a tactical discipline or is it always strategic?

 This thread has some lively dialog about what does it mean to be tactical or strategic.  The statement, "SOA, by its nature, is a strategic concept but can be executed tactically" provides the crux of the dialog but as you will read, the devil is in the details... How do you stay focused on strategic goals while executing in the trenches?  Read the thoughts in this thread.

 Make sure you catch the discussions around Cloud and SOA for instance, what are the top issues when cloud computing and SOA converge?

 The buzz is out there, join in!  Let us know what you think on these and other topics, post a comment here or on the eBizQ SOA Forum.