I recently was interviewed for an article  on SCM and Tools that Crystal Bedell wrote for Search Software Quality. Updating tools and processes key to overcoming SCM challenges is brief, and makes some good points about the relative value of tools compared to understanding what you are trying to accomplish with your process.

The best SCM tool, from a day-to-day perspective is the one that is the most invisible to developers, and the best tool really can't help you much if you have a process that just makes it hard to collaborate. This article was also validation that trying to be too agnostic when Brad Appleton and I wrote the SCM Patterns book was a good idea. While some tools make some practices easier, a tool can't replace having an understanding of the reasons to use (or more important, not use) techniques.

Read the article, and if you want to learn some basic SCM practices read the book. For those who want a very comprehensive discussion of branching (which seems to be, for better or worse, the topic that people most struggle with when using SCM tools),  Streamed Lines is a good place to start.