Configuration Management Principles and Practice

In 1999, the Danish organization Datateknisk Forum , an association of about 70 software-producing companies, asked me to write a book on configuration management. This was the result of a survey among the members as to what topic they needed a book on. Some of the comments and requirements that came back from the survey were

• How do you incorporate configuration management in the development process?

• How do you handle the fact that different kinds of work products, like documents and code, are treated differently?

• How do you obtain integration between different configuration management tools?

• How do you handle multisite development?

• How do you handle configuration management in relation to object-oriented developmentcomponent-based development?

I took on the assignment because in my own experience, configuration management has been of great value, not because I felt I knew much about it theoretically. I know much more now, and I hope I've conveyed some of the understanding, knowledge, and appreciation I've gained during my work on this book. If readers try at least some of the detailed disciplines, I hope they will experience the same enthusiasm about its usefulness that I did.

The book is based on literature as well as experienceand also on attitudes and opinions . It contains a lot of examples, advice, and recommendations that are not to be regarded as The Truth but primarily as the sum of a lot of experiencenegative as well as positive.

When I learned that the book was to be published in the Agile Series, I knew little about agile development. But as I studied the values and principles, I found that I had practiced it in parts for years . Agile development is a wonderful idea, and one of the cornerstones of its success is configuration management, so it was a pleasure to be able to contribute to the series with one of my favorite disciplines.

The book may seem a bit heavy to some agilists, but I think it's better to discard some formality and detailed activities deliberately, knowing what one hasn't performed, than to just not perform it out of ignorance. So, agilists and others, read and choose!