10.1 Configuration Management as a Career

Configuration management is an ignored discipline in software development. It doesn't have the same sex appeal as writing fantastic codea fate this discipline shares with other processes such as quality assurance and testing. Options for education in configuration management are few at institutions offering instruction in information technology.

No doubt many people wonder why anyone would consider configuration management as a career. But it may be technically exciting as well as managerially challenging. It offers the opportunity to follow products through their entire life cycles and to get to know all levels and types of colleagues and customers, from top management to the newest developer.

Configuration management is a discipline in progress. The industry is becoming more aware of the significance of increasing maturity and structured and targeted process improvement work. The demand for quality is growing, as is the need for more and more people with a solid knowledge of and experience in configuration management. Initiatives are already being undertaken to provide more education in the subject, so that configuration management and its significance will be taught with other software development disciplines.

The experience of more than ten years working with maturity in the software industry indicates that companies wanting to face the growing pressure of time-to-market , better quality, lower prices, and more reliable pricing (the latter especially for custom software) will need a better understanding of the importance of configuration management, and hence people with a solid knowledge of the discipline.

Roles in configuration management consist of the person responsible, the librarian, and members of the configuration control board. These roles are described in the next chapter.

Qualifications

Configuration management is an administrative discipline, and special demands are made on people who want to specialize in it. Among other things, it demands that you have

  • A general overview

  • Attention to detail

  • Meticulous work methods

  • Diplomacy

  • The ability to communicate with many types of people

  • The ability to "sell" configuration management in the company

  • A thorough knowledge of software development in general

As can be seen from the preceding list, the best team roles (discussed below) for a configuration management professional arein order of preferencecompleter/finisher, implementer, specialist, and coordinator .



Configuration Management Principles and Practice
Configuration Management Principles and Practice
ISBN: 0321117662
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2002
Pages: 181

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