For us, this generates a new set of CM challenges - looking to control and manage such systems. And this much harder if you are managing one or more third parties. While some aspects of release and deployment look much easier than with traditional systems, controlling and managing interfaces and related information may be significantly different.
It is well worth spending some effort on thinking about these issues ahead of time so that we have an answer if the business suddenly springs this on us!
Conclusion
There has been some recent discussion on what is meant by the term Agile SCM, and isn't all SCM agile? We remain convinced that there is life yet in Agile SCM, but will leave this fruitful topic for a future column! Meanwhile, check out Damon Poole's (possibly provocatively titled) online book Zero to Hyper Agile in 90 days or less for some good information on agile processes.
And finally, here is some unsolicited feedback one of us received from a recent training course:
I'll have to admit that I was unsure when I first went in (large pile of printouts, knowledge that I'd been using the product for the last 2 years etc.) but it was quickly obvious [the trainer] really knew his stuff, had some great tips for using [the tool], and most importantly he actually enjoyed what he was doing!
So perhaps our mission for this year is "to communicate the Joy of CM"! Happy New Year!
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About the author
Brad Appleton is a software CM/ALM solution architect and lean/agile development champion at a large telecommunications company. Currently he helps projects and teams adopt and apply lean/agile development and CM/ALM practices and tools. He is coauthor of the bookSoftware Configuration Management Patterns, a columnist in The CM Journal and The Agile Journal at CMCrossroads.com, and a former section editor for The C++ Report. You can read Brad's blog at blog.bradapp.net.
About the author
Steve Berczuk is an engineer and ScrumMaster at Humedica where he's helping to build next-generation SaaS-based clinical informatics applications. The author of Software Configuration Management Patterns: Effective Teamwork, Practical Integration, he is a recognized expert in software configuration management and agile software development. Steve is passionate about helping teams work effectively to produce quality software. He has an M.S. in operations research from Stanford University and an S.B. in Electrical Engineering from MIT, and is a certified, practicing ScrumMaster. Contact Steve at steve@berczuk.com or visit berczuk.com and follow his blog at blog.berczuk.com.
About the author
Robert Cowham has long been interested in software configuration management while retaining the attitude of a generalist with experience and skills in many aspects of software development. A regular presenter at conferences, he authored the Agile SCM column within the CM Journal together with Brad Appleton and Steve Berczuk. His day job is as Services Director for Square Mile Systems whose main focus is on skills and techniques for infrastructure configuration management and DCIM (Data Center Infrastructure Management) - applying configuration management principles to hardware documentation and implementation as well as mapping ITIL services to the underlying layers.
