We all do it from time to time - forget something, get it out of sequence - and experience that annoying feeling that we've just done something incredibly stupid. I usually arrive at the dry cleaners to pick up my clothes, only to realize I'd left the next batch behind. Fortunately, it's not a long drive. But it's usually because I'm in a rush, trying to accomplish multiple things. If I slowed down just a second, I might accomplish more.

Service-oriented architecture faces similar challenges. In particular, the concept of architecture seems to be the one that gets left behind, or thrown out with the bathwater. Yet it's really the architecture part of SOA that enables it to provide the highest return on investment from an implementation.