Best practice processes, yes, have been around for a while in aerospace, department of defense, and commercial environments. Such organizations as the Electronic Industries Association (EIA), Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), Department of Defense (DOD), International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), and International Organization for Standardization (ISO) have collaborated in the past and continue their collaboration to develop, revise, and improve standards for national and international as well as commercial and industry use. One example is the joint activities (collaboration) by the above organizations to develop standards for the software lifecycle processes. Another example of collaboration is from the Project Management Institute. A current activity for review and comments on a “U. S. Department of Defense Draft Extension to A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK). These are excellent examples of collaboration. That is why being open-minded is required to understand configuration management’s origin and it use today.
Publishing the featured book was/is an attempt to reach a large audience and many of those that are assigned to be a project manager without the appropriate understanding, training, or knowledge. After understanding what software or firmware configuration management is and knowing that it was a “Missing Link” in many failed projects, one can use that knowledge for future control of IT development and technology projects.
Section One of Software/Firmware Configuration Management details the problem and describes configuration management in plain English).
It’s about management control and ensuring quality is built into products/systems being developed and produced. As stated in a previous newsletter, if Y2K had widespread configuration management much of the effort and money spent to correct the problem would definitely not have occurred. But no matter what process or processes you implement (the beginning of the life cycle or executing one of its processes), you must know and begin with requirements.
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