The Role of Human in Software Configuration Management
Syahrul Fahmy, Aziz Deraman, Jamaiah Haji Yahaya · 2018
Two common problems in software development projects are falling behind schedule and software that does not fulfil its purpose. These problems can be attributed to on-going changes made to software products especially during development and maintenance, leading to more work than initially anticipated, diminishing quality as new changes are implemented. One approach for addressing these problems is through a systematic Software Configuration Management (SCM) process. However, after more than 50 years after its inception, these problems are still prevalent in software development, questioning the effectiveness of SCM implementation by software organizations. Although guided by international standards, industry best practices, and array of tools to support its implementation, the role of human has received little attention (if any), in mainstream SCM research, compared to other areas in software engineering. As such, this research project challenges the traditional view of SCM and puts forth a notion of People-Centric SCM, a holistic approach for managing changes to software products, focused on human rather than tools, and that is based on existing standards and best practices. The model and assessment framework were validated by means of Subject Matter Expert reviews and 5 case studies involving 9 software practitioners from the public sector, higher education institutions and the private sector in Malaysia, in addition to 2 international experts. Results of the validation demonstrated the soundness of the model, the plausibility of the assessment framework, and the practically of the People-Centric SCM approach to software organizations.