Granted, service-oriented architecture requires you to do a lot of things. It takes no small amount of time to redesign your architecture and re-orient your IT organization. The documentation involved, the training, the trial and error – it can eat up a good chunk of your life.

Yet how hard is it? Yes, it's involved, but is it hard to do? There is a qualitative difference between having a lot to coordinate and needing a crew of supergeniuses to implement it. The answer, it would seem, is that SOA doesn't require advanced mental gymnastics.

Not surprisingly, simplicity is what gets stressed in the analyst community more often than not. Do an internal inventory, set a clear roadmap, involve the necessary parties and start small are among the usual recommendations. You could always pay attention to best practices.