Or are they just another color of legacy? After all, we as an industry have been promised the miracle benefits of Reuse many times over. So when Todd Biske started a discussion on his blog on the subject, I had to dust off the soap box:

Todd -

You're hitting the nail on the head here. The fundamental challenge is describing the portfolio of service assets in a succinct and 'grok'able way. Once an organization builds all this wonderful fully integrated best thing since sliced bread service portfolio, then what? Reuse is not a technical challenge, it's a challenge that requires organizational capabilities:

1. Creating the appropriate translations to allow potential consumers to find what they are looking for in their language
2. Creating the appropriate translations so potential consumers can properly leverage service assets
3. Creating the appropriate incentives to spur adoption of service assets
4. Integrating appropriate tools to allow all of this to occur in a scalable way

I think I just described the gist of what the "Capability-Based Analysis Transformation at the DoD" white paper / case study tackles. Reuse doesn't just happen, despite some of the more unrealistic expectations in the technical community!

Regards,

Aleks

Speaking of that white paper, it is in final editing round and will be available on the Technology Investment Management Library later this month.