Software Configuration Management Patterns: Effective Teamwork, Practical Integration: Amazon.ca: Steve Berczuk, Brad Appleton: Books

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Stereotypes portray software engineers as a reckless lot, and stereotypes paint software configuration management (SCM) devotees as inflexible. Based on these impressions, it is no wonder that projects can be riddled with tension! The truth probably lies somewhere in between these stereotypes, and this book shows how proven SCM practices can foster a healthy team-oriented culture that produces better software. The authors show that workflow, when properly managed, can avert delays, morale problems, and cost overruns. A patterns approach (proven solutions to recurring problems) is outlined so that SCM can be easily applied and successfully leveraged in small to medium sized organizations. The patterns are presented with an emphasis on practicality. The results speak for themselves: improved processes and a motivated workforce that synergize to produce better quality software.

Book Info

Shows how proven SCM practices can foster a healthy team-oriented culture that produces better software. The patterns are presented with an emphasis on practicality. Softcover.

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11 Reviews

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4.8 out of 5 stars (11 customer reviews)

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5.0 out of 5 stars Provides crucial SCM translations, July 17 2004

By

Jean McMahon "J McMahon" (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Software Configuration Management Patterns: Effective Teamwork, Practical Integration (Paperback)

The authors provide useful generic definitions of the critical SCM patterns. They go onto provide direct mappings between specific tool vocabulary and the patterns. This mapping has been instrumental in establishing a common SCM vocabulary in cross division projects. SCM education and planning are greatly streamlined due to this important translation. "Patterns"is an essential dictionary on all SCM adventures.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Essential SCM resource for all experience levels, Jun 18 2004

By

Mike Tarrani "www.tarrani.com" (Deltona, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Software Configuration Management Patterns: Effective Teamwork, Practical Integration (Paperback)

I'm a fan of patterns because of the succinct way they convey knowledge and practices, so I rushed out to purchase this book. I was not disappointed for a number of reasons. First, it is true to the concept of patterns, and second, it is all practical with no ivory tower preaching.

The patterns given in this book comprise a complete picture of software configuration management, and will allow you to fully understand the scope and complexity of implementing, managing and continuously improving an SCM process. From the following list you'll see that these patterns are end-to-end:
- Mainline and active development line, both of which are designed to manage baselines, as well as to promote stability in the code base.
- Private Workspace, repository, private versioning, and private system build patterns are the essence of SCM as well as reflecting best practices in team-oriented integration and testing while preserving the integrity of the code base.
- Third party codeline is an interesting pattern that I've not encountered, but one that is highly useful when you are working with subcontractors, or have outsourced some development. The patterns for task level commit and task branches are also useful approaches to team-oriented development, whether internal or distributed among subcontractors.
- Codeline policy, smoke and unit test patterns govern the SCM process and prepare for the transition from development to QA. These are core patterns that are directly tied to the development process.
- Release line, release prep codeline, and regression test patterns cover the promotion to QA and release management portions of the development process.

In addition to the patterns, which are the main value of this book, the clearly articulated chapters on pattern language, SCM concepts, and other contextual information further enhance this book, and is yet another reason why anyone interested in SCM should make reading this book a priority. The supporting web site (ASIN B0000AA6G3) contains errata, a downloadable quick reference card, and sample chapters from this book. If you are still undecided visit the site and you'll find sufficient information with which to decide.

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4.0 out of 5 stars Great Book ... Formalizes Gut Instinct, Jan 28 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Software Configuration Management Patterns: Effective Teamwork, Practical Integration (Paperback)

Really, really good book. We were having some trouble on our project, and I needed to convince people to change over to a new way of doing things. However, I couldn't counter the age-old "but we've always done this" attitude. So, using this book, I was able to formalize my arguments, give examples of how what we were doing could get us into trouble, and also gave them a place to refer to for best practices. That certainly helped. People are slowly coming around to making the changes and there is now hope for the project!

I took off one star because there are some quirks with the writing style. For instance, the author will be talking about something that in the end turns out to be the thing /not/ to do and then launches into what to do. This can be a little disorienting. However, this doesn't happen often, and in some cases (if you have to make arguments against something) it might even be helpful.

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Most recent customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Accessible, and well suited for smaller teams
The writing style is excellent and flows nicely, suiting a wide range of SCM folks from newbies to old hands. There's a lot of really good advice for small teams, well. Read more

Published on Dec 21 2003 by Lars Bergstrom

5.0 out of 5 stars Best CM practices book I've found
This book could have also been called "Best CM and software development practices".
I've read many CM books over the years and this is one of those rare books that... Read more