Each month the CM Journal provides original content articles and regular columns from industry thought leaders and software providers on a wide variety of configuration management and application lifecycle management topics.
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Standards -Are They Really Needed? Volume 6 - Number 2 - February 2008
Standards are an important and often overlooked part of Configuration Management. This seems incredible when we consider that CM is an essential aspect of any large scale software development effort. Today we have Federal Laws (e.g. Sarbanes-Oxley) that hold financial services firms accountable for failing to have appropriate procedures in place to manage the technology effort and much of these required controls are focused on Configuration Management. Standards, developed by a central body, carry a great deal of authority and lend credibility to the organization that employs them as part of their CM effort. In many other fields, including engineering, medicine and science, standards are implicit and inherently understood to be an absolute requirement. But yet many CM practitioners never think about standards and many development efforts do not really spend much time on standards at all. In some cases that may be a good thing as the misapplication of standards is clearly worse than having none at all. 
If you would like to understand which standards are really necessary and how to apply them in the trenches then you have come to the right place. This month, Joe Farah gives us a peek into the next generation of CM Standards while Randy Wagner dives into why organizations sometimes have poor standards. Austin Hastings discusses the best ways to understand today's challenges in Software CM with an emphasis on assessing SCM Capability and Financial constraints. His second article deals with Software Assembly and developing Subject Matter Experts. Shirley Lacy gives us a short primer on some of the common CM standards in place and evolving today including ITIL V3 and ISO/IEC 2000. Mark Staples gives us some trench level advice on implementing application build standards while Alan Koch tells us about standards worth following and Mario Moreira gives us a framework for evaluating standards. Leslie Sachs reminds us that the people factor is essential to consider in implementing any standards effort while I look at the larger framework within which standards must be understood in my Behaviorally Speaking column. O.S. Balaji gives us sound advice on remembering to document our standards while Ben Weatherall discusses different types of standards and What, Why, When we should use them.
That may sound like a lot of information and yes this is a great issue, but frankly I view this month's edition of the CM Journal as a call to arms. The CM Community needs to get more proactive at evaluating and implementing meaningful standards within a framework that includes Policy, Standards, Procedures and of course Best Practices. We are very strong on the best practices but it is my view that we still have much work to do in the area of developing guidelines for effective Policies and Standards. Please take a look at the articles that we bring to the table this month and then give me your input on what we need to do in order to advance the field of CM, including standards. I pledge to take the best input from members of our community and bring these ideas forward to the attention of the appropriate standards bodies. We need you to participate in this effort and we are counting on your input to advance the field of CM into the future! Bob Aiello Editor-in-Chief CM Journal
raiello@acm.org
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CM: THE NEXT GENERATION of Software CM Standards
Software standards have two main purposes: (1) They help systems work with one another, ensuring consistent interfaces and data exchange mechanisms; and (2) They help to define the use of best practices in a process or series of processes. As a byproduct, they reduce costs. Standards allow a set of pre-trained personnel to be available on the job market. They provide reduced risk exposure as personnel responsible for processes and for developing standard interfaces/dat...
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Standards That Are Worth Following
Conventional wisdom tells us that standards are a good thing. They are based on best practices, and they provide guidance to help people do their jobs well. They are so widely accepted that their worth almost goes without saying. But as with most things that go without saying, standards are not always what they are billed to be. In spite of the plethora of standards in the software industry, we still struggle mightily to achieve successful projects. Even in organizations that are sta...
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Standards – are they really needed?
Organizations generally prefer open standards that are developed through formal and accountable standards bodies as opposed to closed proprietary methods. There are already many international standards and best practice frameworks that incorporate requirements for asset and configuration management. ...
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Framework for Evaluating and Implementing Standards
As I was thinking about writing this article, a song came into my head, "War, what is it good for". Instead of the word ‘war', I sang, "Standards, what are they good for?" Is just having a documented standard enough or do we want to know that it is fully implemented? Do we want to understand the value of a standard and see if it is really being used to manage the organization? It is important to understand how to evaluate the standards that you have. Does your organization provide th..
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Dimensions of SCM Challenge
A Basis for Understanding Challenges in Software CM Part of managing software development is dealing with the challenges that arise. Delivering software requires overcoming the challenges, or at least mitigating the attendant risks during the development activity. Generally, organizations work with a constant level of challenge. When one challenge is overcome, the organization will take on a new challenge. For example, when a project releases software that overcomes a technical challe...
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SCM Techniques Number 2
Software Assembly & Subject Matter Expert Patterns are a well-understood concept in software development. Thanks to Steve Berczuk and Brad Appleton, they are a part of the SCM vocabulary as well. So far, the SCM pattern vocabulary is relatively low-level, concentrated on describing repository layout, branching strategy and the like. The techniques discussed here are not patterns—they don't have the required structure, and don't provide prescriptive formulas for imple...
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Four Lessons about Company Standards and Procedures from Build Management
This article is about two questions. The first question is: what's the value of company standards and procedures in software development? One way of thinking about the importance of something is to imagine what life would be like without it. The second question is: how do you create and maintain company standards and procedures? In a similar vein, I'll look at this question by thinking about how standards can fall into disuse. As a running example for ...Read More >>
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Standard Performance
Having worked in some organizations where standards were the exception, it's surprising how often people mistake the resulting pain for people problems. Here are some points to ponder when considering the root cause of problems that occur. The following indicators often sprout from poor standards rather than bad people: ...
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Behaviorally Speaking - Standards - who needs them anyway?
Configuration Management is all about discipline, best practices and implementing repeatable processes. In my own career, I have found myself working closely with auditors, data security, Quality Management and seemingly all things as virtuous as Mom and apple pie. Frankly, my many years of experience in CM for large financial services firms has not been focused specifically on standards (e.g. MIL-STD-973, ISO 9000-3/9001, ANSI) and many accomplished CM experts never think about standards at all...
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Personality Matters: do Standards threaten one's individualism and creativity?
According to one world-view, everything in life can be separated into 2 polarized categories such as "those who ____" and "those who do not ____." Then there are those in the opposite camp who claim that the world does not follow any such pattern. : ) Whether or not you agree with such quick-n-dirty categorizations, most readers would probably concur that well-defined standards enable employees to at least be on the same page with regard to company procedures. Decisions regarding exactly w...
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Automated Defect Prevention - Best Practices in Software Management
"We do everything, but if you ask me for documents, we don't have them", "Quality. it's just documentation, documentation and more documentation", these are some oft-repeated statements when one is asked to comment on process and quality. For a moment, lets imagine a world in which the following scenarios are common
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Process compliance sans documentation: You must be joking!!!!
by Dorota Huizinga and Adam Kolawa Automated Defect Prevention by Dorota Huizinga and Adam Kolawa presents an approach to Software Management that is both powerful and thought provoking.
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Standards: The What, Why and When
Standards exist for all kinds of reasons. Some of the reasons are good; others not so much. In many cases, there are multiple standards that can apply in a given situation and you have to decide which is the best for you. This article will attempt to describe some of the kinds of standards that are out there, why a standard should be adopted, and when adopting a standard is appropriate. I will leave it to the other columnists to describe individual standards they have found useful as well ..
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Software Configuration Management
By adopting the processes and concepts outlined in this book, readers will have everything they need to implement and execute a sound SCM organization. Whether one is a project manager with responsibility for CM, a CM manager, or a CM team lead, this book would be beneficial. Perhaps the best feature of this book is that it is life-cycle oriented. For each phase of the generalized life cycle it identifies the relevant SCM activities and the SCM milestones. - Software Quality Professional ...
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