Software Configuration Management

If you listen closely, you can almost hear the soft hum of thousands of well-intended voices all intoning the mystical phrase “Agile Development” like a magical mantra that will make everything faster, better and appear more attractive.  This buzz word is coming from managers and their bosses, from PMs and VPs and CMs (Configuration Managers) and other folks with 2-letter title abbreviations, from developers and testers and even the customers.   “We must be Agile!”– so they say.

As you may have noticed, if you repeat any word or phrase long enough, it tends to lose all meaning.  Unfortunately this seems to be the case with concept of Agile Development. 

I once attended a meeting wherein a VP announced that we were going to do agile development “as of today.” There was a lot of cheering and a lot of smiling and a few hands were shaken.  And at the very back of the room, there were a few of us that sat there quietly trying mightily to conceal our shock/disbelief/cynicism and sheer apprehension at the thought of what was about to happen to us. 

You see – Agile development is more than just throwing smaller chunks of code into Production faster.  It takes planning, involvement, a solid architecture, good supporting tools – in short, A WHOLE LOT OF WORK – to make agile processes really work for you.  You can’t reap the reward without doing the work first– and if you try, all you’re going to wind up with is a great, big mess. (Not to mention a staff with their updated resumes out on DICE)

While this post is written a bit tongue-in-cheek, the message is serious.  If you want to be agile, make an investment in the process:

1)      Know your code architecture:  Having all 73,000 files in version control is not the same as KNOWING the architecture of your code. You can’t be truly agile if you don’t know the inter-dependencies of your own code. 

2)      Know your end-users wants vs. needs: Actively involve the end-users in the release scope.  This is A LOT harder than it sounds.  It takes a good relationship with the end users to separate out their desires from their actual needs, and balance the content of the releases across the two.  Building this relationship is a fundamental component of agility.

3)      Implement Tools that support Agile methods:  There is nothing agile about merging branches of code all over kingdom-come.  There is nothing agile about having to manually determine what files changed since last Friday at noon, or depending on checksum to figure it out.  Choose your tools wisely, implement them appropriately for your individual situation, and enforce the process globally across all groups, management levels and situations…and do so knowing that everything is subject to change without notice.

I highly recommend AccuRev to support agile development methodologies.  It provides a level of flexibility that I’ve never encountered in any other tool, while still enforcing process through an indelible history of every event, and user defined process criteria.

AccuRev is the ideal tool for distributed development teams, with fast remote updates, the option of full or partial updates to the development workspace, and flexible, developer-defined and controlled sharing of in-process work.

I’ve setup a lot of projects using a lot of different software configuration management tools, and AccuRev is by far and away, my favorite choice for a SCM tool – particularly when supporting agile processes.

In closing, here are some words of wisdom from an old-hat Configuration Manager:

1)      If they tell you, “Just load the CM tool on the development server for now.  We’ll find you a permanent server later” – DON’T fall for it.

2)      When a prospective employee describes their environment as “dynamic” just know in advance that’s a euphemism for “chaos.”

3)      There is no such thing as a “Planned Emergency.”

4)      If your manager says, “We’re implementing agile methodologies, and we’re buying ClearCase, because it’s the best,”….well, in that case, I’ll be seeing your updated resume on DICE…

Fran Schmidt is a veteran CM, who’s survived over a decade in the Software Configuration Management field through a combination of good humor, constant education on the newest technologies, and sheer stubbornness.