David Linthicum, CTO at Grand Central and former CTO of both Mercator and SAGA Software, has a good post on piloting projects for SOA.

Go to David's post to find out what he has to say about what the benefits of pilots are and some rules for running pilots. If I had one thing to add to David's list on successful ingredients, I would say that you want to pick "winners" for your pilot wherever possible. Winners are end users that will be brutal but forgiving and an Ally to your cause. Winners are also things, such as functionality, that will generate the quickest ROI. Winners are the people and things that will help to make certain that your first inroads will be a success.

Pilots are things that I believe in quite a bit. The use of "CYA" was a bit tongue in cheek as if there's one CYA that you should pull that's in alignment with the best interests of the company, a pilot should be near the top of the list.

Steve Shu