Configuration Management Principles and Practice [Paperback]

Anne Mette Jonassen Hass (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0321117662 | ISBN-13: 978-0321117663 | Publication Date: January 9, 2003 | Edition: 1

Configuration management (CM) is frequently misunderstood. This discipline is growing in popularity because it allows project participants to better identify potential problems, manage change, and efficiently track the progress of a software project. CM is not easy, but at the same time, it need not be difficult. This book gives the reader a practical understanding of the complexity and comprehensiveness of the discipline. Many current CM practitioners rely too heavily on commercial CM tools, and fail to understand the concept as a whole. With the deeper knowledge of CM principles taught in this book, readers will be better able to manage and deliver their next project. The book is included in the Agile Software Development Series because there is growing recognition that an effective configuration management strategy is the cornerstone of a truly agile project.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Configuration management (CM) is an important, but often neglected, practice that allows application developers and project managers to better identify potential problems, manage changes, and track the progress of software projects. An effective CM strategy—one that adheres to the practice's complexity while harnessing its depth—can be the cornerstone of fast, flexible development. However, CM practitioners often rely too heavily on commercial CM tools, and fail to understand the concept as a whole. While CM is not an easy discipline, it need not be a difficult one.

Configuration Management Principles and Practice explains the elements and benefits of a sound CM strategy and shows how to put that strategy into action. Through configuration examples and recommendations drawn from the author's considerable experience, this practical guide will help readers to better manage and deliver projects.

Key topic coverage includes:

Incorporating CM into the overall development process

Relating test cases to requirements and tracking, assessing, and reporting on testing

Tracing product changes

Applying CM in different environments, including agile, iterative, integrated-product, and sequential development methods

Employing CM in projects, large and small, for safety-critical, composite, multiplatform, and multivariant systems

Managing multisite development

Serving cross-organizational functions

Integrating different CM tools

Improving CM processes

A comprehensive guide to the current state of CM, the text begins with an introduction to fundamental CM principles and activities and then illustrates how each can be tailored to meet a development organization's unique needs. In short, this easy-to-use reference will give organizations and individuals the tools they need to insure the integrity of their products and effectively manage the evolution of their systems.

0321117662B12032002

About the Author

Anne Mette Jonassen Hass is a senior consultant and registered BOOTSTRAP lead assessor for DELTA (Danish Electronics, Lights, and Acoustics), one of Europe's leading international testing and design consulting organizations. With more than twenty years of experience in IT, she has been involved in all aspects of software development: requirements specification, analysis, design, coding, testing, quality assurance, and management. Ms. Hass was a contributor to Improving Software Organizations by Lars Mathiassen et al. (Addison-Wesley, 2002).

0321117662AB12032002

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Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional; 1 edition (January 9, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0321117662
• ISBN-13: 978-0321117663
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #178,138 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #19 in Books > Computers & Technology > Project Management > Agile

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Useful, practical, consistent and complete, February 19, 2003

By 

Elisabeth (M.Sc.E.E., Project Manager) (Denmartk) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Configuration Management Principles and Practice (Paperback)

Super - this book addresses a very real problem in a very pragmatic way, and gives useful and realistic suggestions on how to solve the real world issues. The book defines an intuitively understandable structure for Configuration Management, which really helps de-mystify this very complex subject. It gives a practical understanding of what can be done, how to decide what to do and what not to do - and then it tells you in detail how to do it! The combination of overview and detail, the completeness and consistency of this book makes this book a must for all software practitioners and project managers.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Complete survey of approaches for all SDLCs, June 15, 2004

By 

Mike Tarrani "www.tarrani.com" (Deltona, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Configuration Management Principles and Practice (Paperback)

This book lives up to its title by providing principles and practices. What makes it so special to the CM and SCM community is the thorough treatment of the subject in the large, and the attention the author pays to special needs and issues with respect to viewpoints.

In the large this book is a tutorial on configuration management, and its sub specialties (project- and production-CM, software configuration management with respect to major software development lifecycle and methodology approaches, and product configuration management).

Nothing is overlooked in this book. For example, the detailed discussions of how to align your CM requirements to maturity models and software process improvement methods, and international standards are invaluable to a wide spectrum of readers regardless of whether they are using CMM/CMMI, SPICE, Bootstrap, ISO 9001, US DoD, IEEE or other major standards. This book also offers tailored approaches form implementing CM and SCM for numerous SDLCs ranging from Agile methods to integrated product development to sequential development (and others).

I especially like the way core CM and SCM principles are covered to give a baseline of concepts and practices, then how those are applied to environments. In particular, the metrics, organizational considerations in the form of roles, and processes that can be adapted are invaluable.

This is one of the best books on CM and SCM I have in my library, and one to which I refer when I need a definitive answer to questions related to practices and processes. In addition to this book I also highly recommend visiting CM Crossroads (ASIN B00009P31G), which has a wealth of additional material that any practitioner - regardless of experience level - will find useful.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Agile comes of age with good CM advice, April 17, 2004

By 

Rachel Tozier (Brea, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Configuration Management Principles and Practice (Paperback)

Someone finally wrote a CM book that addresses agile development!

While the author gives a complete picture of configuration management for all environments, her chapter on CM for agile development is the missing piece of the agile approach. Some parts of this chapter are easy to implement and others not so easy. This is due to the lack of discipline in many agile groups more than unrealistic advice from the author.

Easy and necessary: supporting the agile principle of welcoming changing requirements, CM gives the team the ability to control configuration using tools and processes in the book. Delivering *working* software frequently requires a robust CM program so the right components are in the build. This also supports the agile principle that working software is the primary measure of progress. There is too many opportunities for error and rework when CM is not used.

Necessary, but not necessarily easy: build projects around motivated people is an agile principle. The problem is too many developers who have embraced agile development think it means getting rid of process. Agile is a process itself, and if you are to deliver working software frequently you need discipline where discipline is needed. CM is one critical area where this holds true. Motivating developers who are sloppy and convincing them that certain processes like CM are essential is the most difficult task to be faced.

I've worked in CMM level 3 shops, and am now managing an Agile team, so I've seen this from both ends. In both shops the key to success was CM. Until this book there was next to nothing written about it, and now that this book is available the agile developer and manager have something to guide them. This book will explain how to implement the process, which is something the CVS book does not do well because it is more about using a tool.