SOA consulting: Money-back guarantee?

Service Oriented Architecture Articles : SOA consulting: Money-back guarantee?

You have to admit that SOA consulting, at least from the larger players out there, has been a bit hit and miss. Although I'm sure there are instances where projects are going well, most are over budget and under delivering. I get an e-mail from a frustrated client on a weekly basis, typically asking if budget overruns, changes in the scope of the contract, and delays are normal.

Hard to say what is normal -- we've not been at this SOA stuff for long. I do believe, however, that most SOA consulting gigs out there are run and staffed by consultants that just are not qualified to deliver on the promise of SOA. I bet many big 6 partners are saying "that's not us," when the bad news is that it is.

The core issue is that SOA is holistic and far-reaching within Forbes' Global 2000, and those tasked with building an SOA, typically the first one, really need to have a wide variety of skills and talents. You must be a cross between a super geek and a diplomat, and have some business sense, as well, to be successful with SOA.

The core issue is even more fundamental than that, however. There are many "SOA consultants" that don't have a clue how to approach the problem. Instead they rely on "management by magazine" or "vendor-driven architecture," meaning that they will use "SOA governance," "ESB," "reuse," and "agility" a hundred times a minute, but have no clue how to move toward a true architecture.

So, having said all that, how about a money-back guarantee? I mean if you're learning on the client's dime, perhaps you need to share some of the risk as well. If you're good with SOA then this guarantee should not be a problem. If you're not, you'll be writing some checks. I love pay for performance.

Source: SOA articles, InfoWorld.com