SCM 101: Understanding Configuration Management in Today's Market

This article is about Configuration Management (CM). It doesn't talk much about how to CM, but why software development needs it. While not mentioned by name, Clear Case is what I think of when they say "In other words, when SCM tool vendors create their products, do they focus on the SC or the M? The question is far from frivolous;"

While I have heard of a few developers who enjoy Clear Case and would never work with out, most of the time I hear how difficult it is to get actual work done. Perforce I have used in the past and while it has some learning curve, the command line interface was as fast as CVS.

Most developers want to write great code. Management always watching the dollars wants more understanding of what is being developed. It is the lack of understanding between the leaders and staff that make "tools" such as Software Configure Management (SCM) concentrate more on the "M" then the "SC".

The features that are at first glance so appealing are indeed useful - to managers and administrators. But the accretion of more tracking, more reports, more data, more management, and more administration eventually becomes an unacceptable burden to programmers and programming teams. The dirty little secret of SCM is that in more cases than anyone cares to admit, software engineers have found some SCM tools so burdensome they refuse to use them. These tools are of limited - if any - value.

What I think ends up happening is the organizational change to required to use a costly and high end tool like Clear Case is going to take so long, cost so much and add administration staff that the company will change businesses. Instead of writing software, they will be creating missed deadlines instead.

SCM 101: Understanding Configuration Management in Today's Market
The word accretion can be checked here: I like the 3rd definition: "accretions of grime."
m-w.com's definition of accretion