Volume 8 - Number 12 - December 2010

Configuration Management is a critical function especially when managing a large scale enterprise wide technology technology development effort. Coordinating the work of hundreds (or even thousands) of developers obviously needs well defined processes. So what about the small team? Do small teams need CM? And, if so, how much process? What are the essential requirements for supporting Software Configuration Management in a small team? How is CM deployed in a small team compared to a large team? You have come to the right place for addressing these and other issues.

Leslie Sachs takes the lead this month when she considers SCM Essentials within an Agile SCRUM in her column Personality Matters - SCM Essentials for Small Teams. Guy Marion gives us Getting Started with Source Code Management (SCM) for Small Teams while Joe Farah provides us with CM: The Next Generation of the Small Team ALM. Ben Weatherall delivers his fourth and final part in his series on small teams - When Large Teams Shrink and Joe Townsend gives us SCM Essentials for Small Team: Less Can Be More. Not to be left behind I ask the age old question of "does size matter" in my column Behaviorally Speaking. Make sure that youdrop me a line and let me know about your experiences with support SCM in your small (and large) teams!

Bob Aiello
Editor in Chief
CM Crossroads
raiello@acm.org

Featured articles...

Implementing Software Configuration Management Corporate Standards by Muhammad Saqib Khan For last few years or so, I have seen significant improvement in the field of configuration management. Globally many organizations realize its importance and take maximum advantage by adopting best practices and standards to accelerate their business performance. ‘Configuration Management’ plays an important role in any lifecycle of a project and directly impacts the company’s business. Read More >>

Standards and Frameworks for CM: A Different Perspective by Joe Townsend If you are expecting me to recommend one over the other, this is not your article.  I recommend that you pick a standard that is best suited for your culture, office politics and maturity level.  This may come as a surprise, but the standard you pick can be equally devastating to your group, team or company.   The question then becomes, how can I recommend that you pick a standard in one sentence and then the next sentence tell you that the decision you make can be potentially devastating to your company.  All too often in IT, decisions are made in search for the illusive, “silver bullet” that will solve the problems of the IT shop, group or even the whole company.  Unfortunately, the choice is made and based on false pretenses, the decision is that if I make this choice we can improve the way things are done and everything will fall into place and we will get better.  The particular standard or framework will have little to do with success or failure as much as external issues that no framework or standard can address. Read More >>

Behaviorally Speaking - Standards and Frameworks by Bob Aiello This week I was chatting with a colleague of mine who is an expert in Configuration Management - with many years of experience implementing build and release management frameworks. I was shocked when he mentioned that he had never really read any of the industry standards and frameworks and had simply learned CM from the trenches. I am a trench level guy myself, but I was further shocked when he asked me if I thought CM gurus should just go off and learn standards on their own. This discussion made me rethink whether or not standards are really important. Read on if you would like to take a cold hard look at what industry standards bring to the table and whether or not they are worth your time to study and implement. Read More >>

More articles...

CM: THE NEXT GENERATION of ALM Comes From Cutting the Cord by Joe Farah This month I thought I'd write an article from a vendor's perspective.  As vendors, what do we need to do to help the CM/ALM industry move forward?  Now this in itself is a loaded question because forward assumes a starting point and the industry is not at a common starting point.  There are mostly second generation solutions out there, with many vendors trying to build 3rd generation functionality onto them. Read More >> Personality Matters – Standards and Frameworks by Leslie Sachs How does Personality impact the implementation of industry Standards and Frameworks? It would seem that following the guidance in the IEEE 828 CM Planning standard is simply a matter of writing CM Plans and documenting your existing CM practices. The fact is that some people implement Standards and Frameworks successfully and others fail miserably. This article presents a popular and highly regarded psychology framework that will help you better understand how to implement Configuration Management! Read More >>

Using Voluntary Consensus Standards© by Eva Freund It has been more than 10 years since The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued Circular A-119 (Revised) directing federal agencies to use voluntary consensus standards, both domestic and international, in its regulatory and procurement activities. This circular defined voluntary consensus standards as having the following attributes: openness; balance of interest; due process; an appeals process; and consensus. Standards that meet these criteria include ISO, IEEE, and ANSI standards. It was expected that the agencies, including the Department of Defense, would cease using their own agency-specific standards which were often modeled after the proprietary standards of the contractors hired to develop those standards. Read More >>

Agile SCM: Basics for Small Teams by Steve Berczuk, Brad Appleton, Robert Cowham As much as software developers are stereotyped are solitary coders, software development is a collaborative activity. Communication among team members is essential in ensuring working continuously working software. And working software is what makes communication with stakeholders easier. You can show the state of your application rather than explain progress in terms of more abstract concepts. Your SCM system (and processes) are an essential part how you communicate both in and about code between developers and to stakeholders. Read More >> Standards, Frameworks and the Little Guy by Ben Weatherall   Standards are basically officially sanctioned statements of what must be done and Frameworks are basically officially sanctioned statements of when and how things must be done. Throughout the rest of this article I will be using the term “standards” to encompass both Standards and Frameworks since I will not be focusing on the details of either. That being said, both generally seem to mandate massive amounts of overhead, so much so that unless one is being paid to follow them, it seems to be impossible for the Little Guy (a company or team that actually qualifies as a small business) to follow them. Why then should the Little Guy even try to comply? What's in it for him? Read More >> Lean Six Sigma for Software Process Excellence by Susan Land Can Lean Six Sigma provide adequate software process improvement support? Lean Six Sigma requirements are showing up more frequently in the form of Department of Defense (DoD) requirements. The Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) and all of the Services have embarked on multiyear continuous process improvement initiatives based on Lean Six Sigma. Six Sigma places primary importance on customers, business results and statistical analysis while Lean principles aim to uncover and reduce waste and improve efficiencies. Lean also aims to make discoveries and targeted improvements. The implementation of both methodologies, Six Sigma and Lean, combining their techniques leverage the best in both models.  Together, applied as Lean Six Sigma, they address and change similar management and technical staff behaviors. The organizational change management approach with both techniques is quicker and less costly than a sequential approach and provides more benefits than an “Either / Or” approach. Read More >> God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen by Steve Berczuk, Brad Appleton, Robert Cowham As a piece of Christmas cheer we bring you a traditional olde English carol. It is believed that this particular carol was sung to programmers by configuration managers to earn additional money during the Christmas season. The lyrics (including mention of Mil-STD-973 and CMM among other themes) are reputed to date back to the 15th century although the author is unknown. We have been lucky enough to track down a recording of this traditional carol. Read More >>