23.1 General Planning Advice

If you fail to plan, you plan to fail! When planning configuration management, keep the following in mind:

• Define the purpose, success criteria, and level of ambition .

• Document the plan. Not written = not there.

• Use the planno write-only information.

Start with a clear definition of the purpose, success criteria, and level of ambition. Clear goals and unambiguous success criteria will ensure that the configuration management will be useful, show results, and not grow beyond a reasonable limit. For defining the purpose, it may be helpful to use the mnemonic saying that every purpose should be S-M-A-R-T: specific, measurable, agreed, relevant, and time-specific.

The Plan Itself

Plan for the time to plan configuration management. Always produce a configuration management planif not more, then at least a chapter or section in the overall project plan. Make sure the plan is short, clear, and operational. Short, clear plans will be read and understood , are useful in everyday work, and may be kept up-to-date. Write only what is absolutely relevant. A rule of thumb is that a plan of more than ten pages indicates that something needs to be cut or moved to an appendix. Also include what has consciously been left out when writing the plan, in terms of objects or information.

The author of the plan may assume that the reader is familiar with the contents and purpose of the project and avoid repeating information from other documents. If the company provides general procedures or the like for some or all configuration management activities, refer to them rather than repeating them. Make sure all stakeholders, not least the employees on the project team, are familiar with the plan and willing to adhere to it.

Connection to the Project

It should be easy to see and understand the connections between configuration management activities and other activities in the project. It may be a good idea to integrate configuration management activities in the general time schedule for the project, typically produced in a project management tool and constituting part of the overall project plan. Alternatively, the plan may include a separate time schedule for configuration management, possibly as an appendix.

Plan configuration management from the start of the project but plan the details only for the period immediately ahead, such as the first activity. Avoid drowning, which makes it difficult to keep the plan up-to-date; fill in details as they become known. Make it clear what has consciously been left out, such as later activities.

Template

A template is a great help in getting over the first moments of staring at a blank sheet of paper. Many companies have templates for plans, maybe even for configuration management plans. Use those! Don't forget to provide feedback to the relevant function on how a template works and submit ideas and suggestions based on use of the template.