configuration management

Getting all of the necessary people together to define what "done" means in a software development project will be difficult. Facilitating such a task will probably be a challenge, but there is nothing like working in an organization that works like a well-oiled machine, where everyone knows what is expected of him or her and just naturally does it.

The construct of a practice can be a good way to help an organization understand and execute on a process. A good practice construct will include the components that are needed to implement a process within an organization in a successful manner for adoption. To move forward on a practice, there are areas of focus to attain a "best" practice.

Quality requirements are an elusive goal for any complex product development effort. A strong process and good tools can help advance requirements toward higher quality over time. The product development team plays an important role in establishing quality requirements. In a well-oiled customer/ developer relationship, frequent feedback will go both ways. Unknowns will be explored and change will occur. It's important that CM/ALM tools can clearly track requirements and their changes in a way that helps to capture increasingly improved requirement baselines.

Many authorities have undertaken to lay out the one right way to engineer system requirements. Although there are similarities among them, what is most striking is the diversity in approaches and, in some cases, conflicting philosophies. What are we to make of these dueling authorities and their competing guidelines?