The Anthropology of a New Architecture

One of the most interesting aspects of the Web services wave is the recognition that it will require new, cross-functionalroles and positions. Indeed, some commentators have offered usinsightful views on what these new roles might be.

In a thoughtful piece on "SOA governance," ZapThink's Jason Bloomberg speaks of "domain owners" who manage a set ofservices "sharing some common business context."As he explains it, the domain owner "also helps business process owners in various business units understand the business application of the web services within the domain. This person also tracks the usage of Services for management purposes and ROI calculations." Bloomberg then goes on to describe other potential roles. Among them: "Service-oriented business analyst," "line of business representative" and "domain developer."

One indicator of things to come: IBM's research budget. It has increasingly shifted from the hard science of technology development to the softer science of management, process design and technology application. Researchers are focusing on "solving business problems and modeling patterns of human behavior, giving their work more of the flavor of social science," according toa recent article in the New York Times.

Expect one social science -- anthropology -- to prove increasingly important as Big Blue and others study the roles, behaviors and cultures necessary to the thrive in the SOA era.