Customer Reviews

Software Configuration Management Handbook, Second Edition

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4 star:		(1)
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I am the CEO of a software company and even though I knew the importance of good SCM practices, as a small company, we procrastinated on actually implementing anything formal. Anyway, when the fires got to a point, we decided it was time we took the medicine to get serious about SCM and I turned to Mr. Leon's book for help. I also sifted through a bunch of other books on the topic at libraries and bookstores and was immediately overwhelmed by the seeming complexity and all the jargon. The simple language, the concise explanations and the organization of content in Mr. Leon's book served as almost a how-to-manual for me as we went about implementing SCM concepts in our organization. I bought a couple of copies of the new edition for my two EPMs and they have been unanimous in their praise of this book as well. If you're looking to bring some order into your software development world through SCM, I would highly recommend you start with this book.

This book is the second edition A Guide to Software Configuration Management (ISBN: 1580530729). The change in name is a bit confusing, but the author explains why the name was changed--due to the change in scope, magnitude and coverage of the book.

Apart from the changed title, the most endearing features of the first edition--simple language, clear explanation of the fundamentals and lucid treatment of advanced topics--are still there. The first edition was a book that would get you as quickly up-to-speed on the basics and key issues. The second edition builds on the first edition. The language and writing style is still simple and easy to read. The fundamental concepts and the basic SCM functions are explained in clear and jargon free language. All the good aspects of the first edition are retained. But the chapters are revised, updated and enlarged to include the latest developments and to give a more thorough, comprehensive and in-depth coverage.

The chapter on SCM standards is an excellent primer on the various military and commercial SCM standards. The strengths and weaknesses of each standard is explained. The comparison of four representative standards- EIA-649, IEEE Std-828, ISO 10007 and MIL-STD-973-is very useful and informative. The chapter "Software Process Improvement Models and SCM" gives an overview of various SPI models like CMM, CMMI, ISO SPICE, BOOTSTRAP, Trillium, etc. and explains the role of SCM in process improvement with the help of the SPI models. The chapters on SCM plans, SCM organization SCM tools, SCM implementation, SCM operation and maintenance, SCM in special circumstances give sound and practical advice on the various aspects of SCM from SCM system design, to implementation, operation and maintenance.

In addition to providing a sound foundation on the SCM fundamentals, the book is an easy-to-digest reference to various practical aspects of SCM that are not found in most books and manuals. It is a virtual toolbox of information that can be readily put to use by the SCM practitioners.

I picked up this book because we recently started a project where management uses the term "SCM" a lot, and I had no real idea of what that means. This book provides a great overview of the ideas and genesis of SCM, and why it is useful. It also provided lots of detail and examples about the ideas presented to really cement them in my mind, and translate them to activities that we currently do. I can have an intelligent, scientific conversation about SCM now, which is exactly what I was looking for. This book is really excellent.

The book is an excellent addition to your SCM library. This should be you first read if your just beginning in Software Configuration Management. The author covers the descipline well in this easy to read edition.

The first four chapters of this book might be called: "Why do Software Configuration Management." And they are excellent. If these explanations make sense to you, you might implement SCM before you look around at the software project and find that part of the source code is missing, the source code of this sub-routine doesn't match the binaries, this bug that was fixed is back, and any number of other problems.

The next several chapters go into the fundamentals of SCM. This includes such things as the mundane definition of configuration numbers and the reports that need to be issued.

Just when you are getting to the point where you know that this can't be done, the book goes into the SCM automation tools that are available. Chapter 16 talks about the general functions that can be performed by the SCM tools. Finally he gives a list of the most popular high-end SCM tools. (Mr. Leon - in the next edition of your book I'd like to see some comments made about each of these tools. Just a short sentence or two would be nice to help me narrow down the list of likely suppliers.) For low-end (and low-cost, even free) tools, he points you to the cmcrossroads.com web site for a comprehensive and frequently updated list of suppliers.

This book is a valuable introduction to the whys and wherefores of software configuration management. It will tell management what can be expected and if you're assigned to the task, it will get you well started.

I was disappointed in the negligible coverage of change-sets and change-packages (Ch.8) and similarly negligible coverage for parallel development and merging of same (Ch.20). The references and bibliography might prove useful in pursuing topics where this book fails. But these omissions are not the primary reasons I'm so negative on this text.

The biggest problem with this book is physical: the absolutely abysmal reproduction quality of the body text itself. The density of the ink varies significantly from page to page, sometimes solid black but most pages various shades of gray. The quality of the typesetting is very low, perhaps equivalent to a somewhat older consumer inkjet printer, and there is significant side-to-side waviness to the imaging... in some places so bad the text appears skewed. Horizontal lines within characters fade to nothingness. All of this makes for a migraine-inducing experience to merely read the body text.

The paper quality and hardcover binding appear to be first-rate; only the printing is at fault. I note the back cover indicates "ARTECH HOUSE PRINT ON DEMAND" and perhaps that may be the source of the problem. The copyright page includes the standard language that no part of the book may be reproduced or utilized by any means... perhaps the printer interpreted that snippet too literally?

Used hard covered book in excellent condition, arrived in a timely manner, and at a good price