I like the overview in the features and benefits pages. The benefits are described on a less abstract level than the strategic goals of SOA described by Erl. At the same time Erl keeps more consequent in touch with the goals, for example when describing SOA Patterns. Besides that some of the features in the SOA Book are neither specific nor required for SOA implementation (Asset Wrapping, Model-Driven Implementation). That doesn’t help to get a clear definition and grasp on what SOA is.

No doubt that management of change, also known as governance, gets some attention in the book. The presented SOA Governance Vitality Method (SGVM) is a specification of the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle. It could be of help as a checklist when managing a SOA project.