- to inconsistent data and limited traceability and reporting. And you don't want to have multiple adminstration and customization teams, one for each tool.
Once you find the ideal solution, have another look. What short cuts does it take? Does it use administratively complex technology to deliver benefits? How reliable is it? A solution that is simple can often deliver much more than a complex one.
Product Management
Go bigger. If you've used a VC tool and moved to a CM solution, you know the benefits (and hopefully your solution wasn't a painful one). You moved from a developer-centric tool to one that was development team-centric. The next step is to go to one that is product-centric. Your Product Management solution should bring in all team players. The product managers, key customer representatives, QA members, the development team, the verification team, the technical support and customer management teams, project managers, executives. The next generation of CM/ALM tools will bring together the entire product team. That in turn will require an easier to use solution, and one that is even more reliable and can scale easily. This is not a pie-in-the-sky dream. Technology is moving ahead rapidly to provide these capabilities. Make sure the solution you move to is not on a dead end track. If it is, find another train on a track that reaches as far as you can see.
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About the author
Joe Farah is the President and CEO of Neuma Technology and is a regular contributor to the CM Journal. Prior to co-founding Neuma in 1990 and directing the development of CM+, Joe was Director of Software Architecture and Technology at Mitel, and in the 1970s a Development Manager at Nortel (Bell-Northern Research) where he developed the Program Library System (PLS) still heavily in use by Nortel's largest projects. A software developer since the late 1960s, Joe holds a B.A.Sc. degree in Engineering Science from the University of Toronto. You can contact Joe at farah@neuma.com
