19.5 Size of Product (Large and Small)

Everything is relative. A final definition of what is a small product and what is a large product cannot be given. What may seem large in one company may seem of ordinary size, or even small, in another. A company's own definition determines whether a product is regarded as large or small.

Small Systems

When is a product too small for configuration management to be profitable? A short answer to this question is: never! But of course the amount of work is generally less with small products than with larger ones. No matter how few items are contained in a product and no matter how few people are involved in development, employees leave and employees forget. People cannot hold more than seven to nine things in their heads at a time, and if they must do so, the quality of what they are doing will be reduced. Therefore, critical items in even the smallest products must be placed under configuration management. One could ask oneself, "Would the possibility of delivering the proper system on time and within the budget be affected if a certain item were lost, destroyed , or used the wrong way or in the wrong version?"

Large Systems

Big numbers are terrifying. The size of a product does not in itself make configuration management more complicated, but the task may seem overwhelming. Moreover, the need for formality increases with the number of people involved in development. It's always a good idea to break down large products into smaller pieces that are then placed under configuration management individually. It's also a good idea to break the project itself into smaller (sub)projects or activities and plan for one development activity at a time. This also makes the configuration management task more manageable. Sufficient resources to accomplish the task are required, especially an increased need for tool support.

Identification

When defining conventions for unique identification, one must take care not to define numbers and acronyms that may run out. This applies to small systems as well as large ones. It's impractical if a series of numbers has only one character and the need arises for ten configuration items in the series. It's equally impractical if a series has five characters and the need arises for 100,000 items in the series.

Storage

In the case of large products, it's important to secure sufficient storage for saving many versions of many files. It's also important to optimize the time it takes to extract configuration items for usage, (especially to produce large deliveries, such as for test), because the size of the product can have a significant influence on this.

Change Control

No specific considerations apply to change control in connection with product size, except that large products may require a special comprehensive overview by configuration control boards . For small products, one must take care that change control does not become too informal.

Status Reporting

Neither do any special status reporting considerations apply with regard to product size, except that status reporting must be able to meet volume requirements in connection with large products. For small products, one should not reduce the possibilities of producing status reports .

Tool Considerations

For large products, tool support is inevitable. Requirements for handling large volumes should enter into considerations with regard to the choice of tool. Most serious tools tolerate almost unlimited scaling, but it's important to make sure that this scaling applies to the tool one ends up choosing. For small products, tool support should be carefully considered , to obtain optimal performance while not cracking a nut with a sledgehammer and taking on unnecessary functionality.