- files relating to build settings. If the IDE has the ability to version style related artifacts independently of the project configurations, these should be treated as versioned artifacts.
The measure of whether the toolset works is whether the code meets the standards set by the build, and whether people using other tools can work easily with the code. Don't require a specific IDE tool set as long as the core development standards can be supported by the developers tool of choice.
Vendors need to think about the individual and team aspects of IDEs—ensuring that personal SCM tool settings are not checked in for example to make this possible.
The question of tools and standards can be controversial. The simplest solution that balances team and individual joy and productivity is to focus on whether the standard leads to more customer value, and to define standards in terms success criteria (how quickly to set up a workspace, features of the code, etc) rather than mechanisms.
There is a difference between consistency in important things, which is valuable, and conformity, which is often mistaken for consistency. Focus on delivering consistent results, and respect that a team will know how to get there.
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.
