Dimension: Capability
(Note: This is part of the “Dimensions of SCM Challenge” series.)
The simplest capability challenge from an SCM standpoint is SCM capability. Can you, or can your team, effectively manage the changes and/or configuration of your project? It’s hard to diagnose a lack of capability, because the team members are too busy dealing with the symptoms—each problem that comes up has a simple, direct solution. As the saying goes, “It’s hard to remember that you set out to drain the swamp when you’re neck deep in alligators.” But if you are struggling with failed builds or missing source code, or if the QA department is wondering why a bug they marked as ‘fixed’ has reappeared in the product, or if you are poring through someone’s email archive looking for information that should be available from the repository, then you have a capability problem.
More likely, though, is that you have some basic CM up and running, and you are being challenged by a new project. Maybe there is a new technology that needs to be integrated with your build system, or a new office that you have to support. These cases are easier to detect, since they occur as a result of a change to the project itself. The root cause of the capability challenge may come from another dimension listed in this series, such as geography, technology, or schedule, but if you cannot respond or don’t know how to respond, then part of the problem is capability.
A good technique for basic CM capability problems is Subject Matter Expert. (Note that the author is a CM consultant, and so benefits from giving this advice.) Hire or appoint someone to deal with CM issues, either to solve a particular problem or to provide ongoing expertise for your organization.
Beyond just CM capability, other capability challenges may impact your CM team. If management decides to outsource some or all of your next project, you will face capability issues—the new team may not know how to use your tool suite, or may not know the technologies your team uses. They certainly won’t know the internal details of your project. Depending on the structure of your project, you may find that you have hardware capability issues—not enough network bandwidth, not enough build capacity, not enough disk space. Knowledge acquisition is generally simple—spend money on training. Likewise, hardware capacity problems are solvable with cash.
Most other capability challenges are part of a larger problem, likely one that falls mostly along another dimension in the list. If executive management decides to enter a new market, you may face regulatory or human language issues. Restructuring, mergers, and joint development can lead to location of responsibility, culture, geography, and knowledge retention issues. Not all ‘can we?’ problems are capability problems. But nearly all problems will have a capability component. Geographically distributed development calls for networking multiple servers; adding a new technology requires training for the developers; and regulatory compliance requires updating or adding formal processes. If you don’t already have them, you have to acquire the resources to solve the problem.
(This was published as part of “Dimensions of SCM Challenge: Capability and Finances” in CM Journal, Vol. 6, No. 2, February 2008.)