The best practices section will feature tips and guidelines for processes and tools from industry experts.

The blog function is still intact for frequent article publication about various topics relating to build and release.  Comments are encouraged to engage readers such as yourself to actively participate in the discussion.

the topic of Software Configuration Management is very special to me.  I want to create an information portal that I can be proud of.  I want to share what I’ve learned as well as learn from others.  New prospective from other experienced and practicing SCM Engineers will be encouraged to regularly contribute to this site.  Many hours were spent on bringing this re-launch into a reality.  I hope you will enjoy it and help spread the word around the office about this resource.  Make this your hub and please, let me know what you would like to see on it.

Within it, Messenheimer and Weiszmann gave a very detailed outline from both the tools vendors and SCM Engineers’ prospectives of the evolution of SCM, more specifically, the tool set as it relates to this field.   I found the best practices and pitfalls advice near the end of the article particularly useful for organizations/groups wanting to implement a new SCM infrastructure.  Another reason is because I contributed a handful of those best practices and pitfalls as well.

No, Black Box is not referring to a quality assurance testing methodology.  What I am referring to, in this case, is to not let any one SCM Engineer build something that is so complicated that only he/she knows how to reproduce or trigger the build.  As a serious software development company, group, or team, you cannot afford to have one single point of failure; which in this case is a person.  How then, might you ask, can this problem be addressed? Here are some suggestions:

1. Cross-Training Between SCM Engineers
2. Un-complicate an otherwise Complicated Infrastructure/Process
3. Have a transparent “Hood Cover” so to speak
4. Switch each SCM Engineer’s support Role from Project to Project to Promote Even Rotation
5. Hire a Consultant who comes in once a month to learn the new project or infrastructure as a “backup” plan
6. You, as the manager, take the place of a consultant and do #5
7. Get creative..

The days where only a selected few in an SCM group knows how to build a particular project “by going into a certain script and adding a sequence of characters (%!@#!@) then pet the build machine exactly 5 times and turn yourself around followed by a brief chant of “hocus pocus” before the build finally kicks off” should be a distant memory.

Sure, I do believe anyone within the development field can do the tasks of an SCM Engineer sufficiently, but to go beyond the mediocrity that person must have a certain background and set of skills.  Backgrounds such as extensive knowledge in server and network administration for Linux (plus various other UNIX flavors) and Windows–but please,  SCM should NOT be grouped with IT.  Skills such as PERL/Batch/Multi-Shell scripting abilities and most important of all, a natural affinity in solving and automating problems.  Oh, and lets not forget the capacity to act as the glue between developers, software evaluators, and marketing folks.

Software configuration management is a multi-discipline field.  SCM is a diverse yet highly specialized discipline that can be attributed to a particular set of skills. These skills includes (but not limited to) the following:

1. Multiple Scripting Languages: *NIX Shells, PERL, Python, XML, XSLT, PHP
2. Multiple Programming Languages: C, C++, Java, C#, ASM
3. Extensive I.T. Knowledge
4. Great Organization Skills
5. Essential Communication Skills
6. Skilled Time Management
7. Ability to Prioritize Tasks
8. Multi-Process Enforcer: Build and Release, Installation, Archiving, and Development Processes
9. Architect and Implement Build Infrastructures
10. Architect and Implement Server Infrastructures
11. Manage all SCM Tools: Source Control, Build, Install, Bug Tracking, Collaboration
12. Installer Framework Expert
13. Bug Tracking Integration into Source Control Tool Specialist
14. Multi-Tools In-House Trainer for Internal Development Groups
15. Spend an ungodly amount of time convincing upper management of the values SCM brings to development groups in the long term by enduring some pain, given the proper resource to effect changes NOW; A daunting task considering how a lot of companies are mostly consisted of short-sighted “What the heck is SCM?” management personnels.
16. etc.. etc.. etc…

With almost a decade worth of experiences in this field, I find that the above list accurately depicts the skills a quality SCM Engineer must possess and yet it is still being added to in every year & project. As the popular saying goes, “One should never stop learning,” SCM as a whole can be considered as such.  Being in SCM is being onboard a neverending train ride, sometimes you’re going uphill, sometimes down, sometimes in a dark tunnel with no end in sight, but when everything is smooth and working properly–the ride is a breeze and might I fearlessly add: quite enjoyable!

The other two that I turned down were Apple and Palm.  I know what some of you might be thinking in your head now; probably somewhere along the line of, “what the heck is wrong with you?  why did you turned down Apple?”  Well, reputable and exciting as that company maybe, the HR department or at least the recruiter (and maybe to a lesser extent the hiring manager) who worked with me were highly unprofessional.   Lets just say during the negotiation process, she revealed certain comments about me to justify “in lowering my value” made by the hiring manager in which she really shouldn’t have.   When I made it known to her that I had competing offers and one of them being Palm, she promptly replied and said “…Palm has reached its apex whereas Apple has not…”  I found that hilarious because if she actually look back in history she would recall that Apple was near rock bottom before bouncing back with its iMacs and iPods.   In tech industry, you never EVER count any one company out for the count!

That and Apple’s way of salary negotiation is to give you 3 prong offers [base salary, sign-on bonus, and options] then subsequent counteroffers they adjust 1 or 2 of the 3 prongs to make the other (the one you’re trying to negotiate on) appear higher.  Say their original offer was [900, 100, 200], to make the base higher their subsequent offer would look like this [1000, 0, 50].  I wonder what type of negotiation classes they’re sending their HR recruiters to…

The other one I turned down was Palm.  Supposedly this company is on its way back to prime time after having their asses handed to them by competitors such as RIM (maker of Blackberries) and Apple (maker  of iPhone).   The offer wasn’t what I originally expected it to be in that I went to the interview for a full-time position but instead they came back and offered me a contract-to-hire offer.  Even though the contracting rate was quite good and competitive, it wasn’t what I wanted.

I ended up choosing and will be accepting the third offer [InnoPath] — I will actually be keeping the name of this startup company from this post and may decide to reveal it in future postings.  These two weeks have been taxing with all the phone and face-to-face 5-6 hours multiple rounds interviews.  I’m just glad its over and I have choices available, its a very empowering and free feeling…

Reader’s Email:

Hi, This is my first time visiting your website. I have been working as a Software Configuration Management position for the past three years at the same company. I noticed that our group does not have enough visibility compare to the development and testing teams. When ever there is a time crunch, SCM policies are violated and Development team would bypass SCM in delivering the code to testing and production. My team lead has to continually “educate” SCM’s goal to upper management and convince them with the quality that improves when SCM processes are followed. Is this norm in the industry? Or it’s just our particular company has this case. Should I be staying with SCM if making big money is my goal? Or developers and testers make more money when we compare them. thank you

My reply:

Thanks for your Email. I understand perfectly your frustration. I too have been in companies where they treated SCM as the bastard step child. Oftentimes they would ignore a policy/procedure just to get the software out the door for that particular iteration–and it keeps on repeating time after time. This can be associated with several factors:

1. The organization does not place enough importance for best SCM practices
2. The SCM manager is too weak and unwilling to stand up for the group

As time passes, it does wear your down. What worked for me was walking away from that company and looked for another company that places high value on SCM practices and respects SCM in general. Though SCM is becoming more of a stand-alone discipline as of late as compared to it being an “extension” group of IT or QA several years back.