Change Management

Articles

Using Merge To Yank A Change

I'll keep this one short. If you have a change that has been made to a file (or even to a change package of files) somewhere in the past and you would like to eliminate that change from the past, you can do so with a judicious use of almost any merge tool.

Joe Farah's picture Joe Farah
Metrics and Process Maturity

In keeping with the season, I'll try to keep this month's article on the Light side (both Chanukah and Christmas are Festivals of Light). Not easy to do when talking about metrics. If you're serious about attaining SEI CMM Level 5 certification, or about improving your processes in an effective manner, metrics are critical. Changing processes based on gut feel, or even based on some other organization's best practices can lead you backwards. Metrics not only permit you to detect this, but give you the basic data you need to improve your processes.

Joe Farah's picture Joe Farah
Configuration Management VS Change Management - Who's in Control

Discussion has gone around a number of times on the issue. There's even been a poll on the issue. Is configuration management part of change management or vice versa? Everyone has an opinion and there does not seem to be a consensus. What's the problem? Well, here's how I see it.

Joe Farah's picture Joe Farah
Moving Dependency Tracking Into The CM Process

Last month I spent a bit of time describing how a CM tool could support the creation and comparison of builds, to support the building of multiple variants, etc., based on a single baseline. This month, I will focus on how the CM tool can simplify the build process, moving the process out of "Make" files while supporting the creation of reusable, layered software.

Joe Farah's picture Joe Farah
Making Incremental Integration Work for You

Recent CM Crossroads posts have suggested that a branch-per-change branching strategy is good because it gives you the ability to maintain a stable "main" trunk, while integrating a change at a time if you want. As Joseph Reedick put it in one of his responses:

Joe Farah's picture Joe Farah
Evaluating CM Tools

How do you evaluate a CM tool? What's important to you? Did you know that a good CM tool could actually make the difference between success and failure?

Joe Farah's picture Joe Farah
CM: The Nerve of Your Life Cycle Management

Most CM professionals, I think, would agree that the CM database is not just another component of Application Life-Cycle (ALC) management, it's really at the heart of the matter. I'd like to say that the CM function shares the same stature - it's not just another component of your ALC management - it's the nerve. In fact, I'd like to go one step further and say that the integration of CM and Data Management (DM) capabilities, when done properly, can transform your ALC management environment into a next generation engine that will empower each component of your environment.

Joe Farah's picture Joe Farah
Changes: The Crossroads Between Project CM and Product CM

Project perspective or product perspective - what's the best way to look at configuration management. Well... both. We'll journey through both sides, giving this author's perspective of each, and showing how changes form the crossroads between project CM and product CM. Right off the bat, we'll need to agree on some definitions.

Joe Farah's picture Joe Farah
Building For Success

This article addresses detailed scenarios and the associated problems with the build process. We look at the usually activities and work patterns of a developer and relate those to build practices.

Release Management—Making It Lean and Agile

Release management is an awesome responsibility that plays a vital role in the success of a software development project. Releasing is often considered to be an activity that happens near the end of the process—a necessary evil, perhaps, but no more.

Robert Cowham's picture Robert Cowham

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