Software Build and Release Specialist

Whether you are in management or actual SCM Engineers, don’t build black boxes.   Sure building black boxes does have its perk especially in the job security department, but in the long run its only detrimental to the SCM Engineer and company’s health.   So what is Black Box?

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.