Dimensions of SCM Challenge
I wrote this stuff—all the dimensions of challenge bits—at the same time as the SCM Techniques. To me, they are two sides of the same coin. The challenges identify types of problem that you might have, or perhaps helps to decompose the problems you have. The techniques help to overcome the problems. I’m submitting both sets of articles to the CM Journal. This first bit is the common header that all the challenge articles share.
Part of managing software development is dealing with the challenges that arise. Delivering software requires overcoming the challenges, or at least mitigating the attendant risks during the development activity. Generally, organizations work with a constant level of challenge. When one challenge is overcome, the organization will take on a new challenge. For example, when a project releases software that overcomes a technical challenge, it might then schedule a new release with a challenging timeline, or re-open the technical challenge by choosing a new target platform. The next challenge is not “just like the last one, only more.” An organization that successfully implements geographically distributed development does not follow up by adding another development office. The organization may well open another office, but doing so is now a normal operation; in order to maintain the level of challenge, some other “impossible task” must be undertaken.
While problems may have unique characteristics, there are a lot of common themes. This series discusses sixteen separate dimensions of challenge. The situation your team faces can be analyzed with respect to the dimensions listed here, and some appropriate conclusions drawn. Each dimension is dissected, and some approaches for dealing with it are provided. Here is the complete list:
- Capability
- Culture / Ethnicity
- Efficiency
- Finances
- Geography
- Human Language
- Knowledge Retention
- Location of Responsibility
- Organizational Structure
- Requirements or Business Demands
- Scalability
- Schedule
- Standards & Interfaces
- Synchronicity
- Technical Complexity
- Technological Diversity