Configuration Management Journal - June 2006 - Vol. 5 No.6
Best Practices
Read it online at http://www.cmc
rossroads.com/cmjournal/
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This Issue Sponsored by:
- Webcast -- Meet Rational's new member: Build Forge
http://www.cmcrossroads.net/go/cid=554&mid=978&
amp;id=345
- Business Agility Makes Everything Click
http://www.cmcrossroads.net/go/cid=550&mid=974&
amp;id=849
- Do Metrics Matter? MKS Prescribes 5 Essential Metrics
http://www.cmcrossroads.net/go/cid=553&mid=977&a
mp;id=17
- Conquering Complexity with Configuration Management
http://www.cmcrossroads.net/go/cid=552&mid=976&
amp;id=562
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- In This Issue
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- Task-Based Development: Patterns and Principles
Robert Cowham and Brad Appleton
- The Risk of Regression
Alan S. Koch
- WEBCAST: 12 Tasty Make Recipes - Part III
June 29, 2006 10 AM Pacific, 1 PM Eastern, 1800 UTC
- How to Improve Your Software Development Process Without
Really Messing Things Up -
Bob Aiello
- P-P Matrix for panoramic view of Process Compliance
O.S.Balaji
- CM: THE NEXT GENERATION of Best Practices
Joe Farah
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Webcast -- Meet Rational's new member: Build Forge
Join us on June 27, 11am (eastern) to take a closer look at
Build Forge, the latest addition to IBM Rational’s product
family. Learn how Build Forge’s build and release management
software can help teams automate complex processes,
accelerate release cycles, improve quality, and establish
consistency and repeatability for improved software
governance. Register now.
http://www.cmcrossroads.net/go/cid=554&mid=978&
amp;id=345
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- Editors Note
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Invariably, when people start talking about best practices,
there is bound to be debate. Is there one established set of
best practices for development that you must follow if you
want to succeed? Should each organization pick the best
practice that works best for them? Or, are best practices
just methods that have worked well in the past, so we should
just stick with them? Personally I feel that development and
CM best practices should evolve with time as development
methods adapt to changes in technology. This month CM
Journal writers discuss their ideas of best practices.
I would also be interested to hear what best practices your
company employs throughout your development process. You can
share your comments in the discussion thread CM Best
practices [http://w
ww.cmcrossroads.com/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,147/
topic,68214.0]. And if you would like to share your comments
for broadcast in an upcoming podcast you can leave a message
at (805)683-2084. Be sure to let us know if you want to be
identified and include your name phone number to contact
where we can contact you later.
Also, if you would like to comment on any of this month's
articles, use the READ MORE links below or send your
comments and suggestions to me.
Patrick Egan
Publisher - CMC Media
editor cmcrossroads.com
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Task-Based Development: Patterns and Principles
by Robert Cowham and Brad Appleton
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This month, we explore some resulting patterns of Task-Based
Development (TBD) from feedback to earlier articles.
The Patterns and Language of Task-Based Development
The following SCM patterns participate in the
"language" and practice of Task-based
development using Change-based version-control. Except for
those mentioned in the previous section, these SCM patterns
have been documented in our previous writings:
[Read More]
ht
tp://www.cmcrossroads.com/content/view/6837/135/
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Sponsored By Aldon
You've got to be agile to stay ahead of the competition.
Give your IT systems the flexibility to respond to change
faster and more effectively than ever before. Download this
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with Application Lifecycle Management"
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amp;id=849
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The Risk of Regression
by Alan S. Koch
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But it was just a tiny little change! How could we have
known it would cause such big problems?
How, indeed!
Regression (going backward) is a fact of life in software
systems. Even though something worked before, there is no
guarantee that it will work after the latest
"minor" change. Yes, modular design and sound
system architecture can limit the likelihood of unintended
effects, but they won't eliminate them all together.
[Read More]
ht
tp://www.cmcrossroads.com/content/view/6834/135/
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WEBCAST: 12 Tasty Make Recipes - Part III
June 29, 2006 10 AM Pacific, 1 PM Eastern, 1800 UTC
=======================================================
In this session, John Graham-Cumming and John Ousterhout
continue their discussion of 12 field-tested tips for
optimizing Makefiles. “Recipe” 7 will cover rebuilding when
commands change; next, Recipe 8 will cover making nested
includes location independent; and finally, Recipe 9
describes manipulating GNU Make lists. At the conclusion of
this webcsat series one participant will receive a 60 GB
video iPod.
Register for this webcast now >>
http://www.cmcrossroads.net/go/cid=543&mid=967&
amp;id=626
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How to Improve Your Software Development Process Without
Really Messing Things Up
by Bob Aiello
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Software Process Improvement (SPI) is a little like riding a
bicycle on a sheet of ice across a runway - you may actually
fly - but you may also end up terribly out of control. (I
once had to do this for an endurance test - run by the
NYPD.) Early in my career it became apparent, to me, that
Computer Science was not just about writing code, it was
also about developing quality systems on-time, on a
predictable budget and making certain that the code worked
as planned. It is about doing the right things, at the right
time and also understanding what others will accomplish and
by when. If you like developing quality code then please
read on as we discuss how to go about defining the Software
Development Process.
[Read More]
ht
tp://www.cmcrossroads.com/content/view/6835/135/
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Do Metrics Matter? MKS Prescribes 5 Essential Metrics
A survey by IDG Research and MKS finds that only 4% of IT
Managers
have good visibility into application maintenance spending.
Effective
measurement must include data from new projects as well as
maintenance
work such as bug fixes and enhancements. How do you measure
up?
White paper: “Metrics Matter – MKS Prescribes Five Essential
IT Metrics”
http://www.cmcrossroads.net/go/cid=553&mid=977&a
mp;id=17
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P-P Matrix for panoramic view of Process Compliance
by O.S.Balaji
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‘It is easy to get success but the challenge is to stay on
with it,' the commonly referred quote for personal
development, when seen from a business perspective it
explains the need for holding on to successes in business
and thereon driving growth . In other words it calls for
standardization and a smooth flow of activities for running
the business. This is where ‘Process' as a need originates,
and acts as a means to repeat success in business
consistently. To effectively support this need of an
organization, quality management system is defined, which
ensure activities go on with ease with proper checks and
balances.
[Read More]
ht
tp://www.cmcrossroads.com/content/view/6836/135/
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Conquering Complexity with Configuration Management
Webinar hosted by mValent, featuring Gartner analyst Ronni
Colville.
Date: Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Time: 2 pm ET/11 am PT
With high availability and compliance as core requirements,
progressive IT staffs use configuration management to manage
the complexity that threatens their business success. Join
mValent for a Webinar on June 28 at 2 EDT/11 PDT featuring
Ronni Colville, Research VP with Gartner, as she shares
Gartner's advice on best practices for conquering
complexity with configuration management.
http://www.cmcrossroads.net/go/cid=552&mid=976&
amp;id=562
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CM: THE NEXT GENERATION of Best Practices
by Joe Farah
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There is process and there are tools. Generally, the tools
are lacking and the process could be improved. Someone
develops a new tool; someone else a new set of processes. A
bit better is some areas, less so in others. To make real
strides in moving forward, we need to identify the Best
Practices and understand why they are Best Practices. This
article presents what I consider to be a number of Best
Practices for CM and ALM, and gives the rationale behind
them.
[Read More]
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tp://www.cmcrossroads.com/content/view/6842/120/
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