The Zen of Configuration Management

When you read the words “configuration management” in that title, the first thing you thought of was a version control tool like CVS or subversion, right? Version Control is a necessary, but not sufficient piece of a holistic approach to configuration management. Configuration management involves your build process, bug tracking, release planning, version control, continuous integration, and repeatable deployments as well as 'information radiators' that show you the status of all of these pieces.

On large development efforts, several people might have this as their full-time job. Most teams don't have those kinds of resources, but that doesn't mean this stuff should be left undone. With a little bit of agility, a little bit of discipline, some open source tools, and a team of developers who care enough to do the Right Thing, good configuration management fades into the background as “just the way we work”.

With good CM, everything about your job is easier. In this talk, you'll see how and why.

About David Bock

David Bock is a Principal Consultant at CodeSherpas, a company he founded in 2007. Mr. Bock is also the President of the Northern Virginia Java Users Group, the Editor of O'Reilly's OnJava.com website, and a frequent speaker on technology in venues such as the No Fluff Just Stuff Software Symposiums.

In January 2006, Mr. Bock was honored by being awarded the title of Java Champion by a panel of esteemed leaders in the Java Community in a program sponsored by Sun. There are approximately 100 active Java Champions worldwide.

David has also served on several JCP panels, including the Specification of the Java 6 Platform and the upcoming Java Module System.

In addition to his public speaking and training activities, Mr. Bock actively consults as a software engineer, project manager, and team mentor for commercial and government clients.

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