A software build management server is an integral part of the Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) infrastructure. A typical ALM infrastructure consists of a version control system, a bug or an issue tracking system, and a build server. Software build processes such as Continuous Integration and daily builds are highly IO, memory and computationally intensive. Dedicating adequate resources to the build management server ensures efficient software development.

Performing an SCM product evaluation is important so that the product selected meets the needs of the application being developed. Typically, there is not as much time spent evaluating SCM products as needed, even though an SCM product will be one of the more highly used tools in the application lifecycle. It is with this in mind that it is important to understand the levels of an SCM product evaluation and the level of risk each assumes.

It was a restaurant my wife and I had passed many times, and we had always told each other, "We must try them some day." When we finally tried them, we were pleasantly surprised. The food, the service, the atmosphere, even the price were great! "This will be a regular stop for us," we agreed. But on our third visit, we had to send our food back twice. Another time, we waited nearly an hour for our order. Then, some time later, we were seated at a table that was not clean. Most of the time, things were great. But as we experienced sporadic problems, we visited that place less and less often.

Requirements are a must have. Or should have. Maybe a want. OK, maybe not really requirements. When it comes down to it, you need to understand why you're building what you're building in sufficient detail so that you will know if what you built does the job. You also need full traceability to show that you have met the requirements. Developers work to a set of requirements, but these are not the same as the product requirements, which are again different from the customers' requirements. And what about ad hoc requests? Where do they fit in?