Best Practices for Deploying New Tools

Deploying any tool in the software development environment takes advanced planning. Carefully consider the following points before deploying new tools to your user community:

• It is important to distinguish between the tools and the process automated by the tools. In other words, a poor process carefully implemented by good tools is still a poor process! Exercise caution when introducing change request and configuration management tools in an organization that previously had no formal process. Introduce the process to the organization and obtain its concurrence before rolling out these tools to the end users. UML state diagrams are useful to illustrate the states and actions and to obtain feedback from the organization. Failure to obtain buy-in from the organization can result in the organization's rejecting the tools, when the real problem was not the tool, but a poorly designed process.

• Keep initial processes simple. You can always modify and change the processes as your organization becomes more comfortable with both the tools and the processes. Figure 6-3 showed an example of a defect management process that evolved over many months of experience with the tool. Attempting to implement a complex process before the organization is ready will result in the tool's being poorly utilized or rejected.

• Take small steps one at a time. Organizations need time to adjust and become comfortable with new tools and processes.

• Determine which lifecycle processes will be automated, and automate only one process at a time. Some tools are so easily customized that it is tempting to automate all your processes at once. Avoid this temptation. Take one step at a time, and leave the organization wanting more.

• Few organizations get it right the first time. Assume you will have to adjust the process and tools as you gain experience with them.

• A common complaint of users is that the tools slow them down. Explain that the tool's purpose is not necessarily to make an individual's work faster, but rather, the productivity of the team as a whole better. This is accomplished through the control and management of information, which always slows down individuals to a degree, but makes it much easier because the process is managed.

• Set expectations carefully.

• Use e-mail notification selectively. If users receive too many e-mail notifications, they become an annoyance and will be ignored.