Dr. Dobb's Journal - November 2008 - (Page 62)

ADVERTISING SECTION DR. DOBB’S BEST PRACTICES Automated merging saves time by keeping you from having to evaluate changes line by line. Start the merge and Surround SCM notifies you of any conflicts. When there are issues, atomic rollbacks mean you can easily go back step by step until you return to a functioning version of the software. By isolating individual changes, you don’t have to undo large chunks of work just because there was an error in a single line. tomize. It takes minutes to add or remove states and activities, so you’re never locked into a process. You can iterate your process the same way you iterate your code. Figure 2: Use custom fields to capture metadata. Track and collaborate without any extra effort When moving to a leaner process, you need to strike a balance between getting work done and tracking vital status information. With some tracking systems, you have to document normal tasks, like sending an email, manually within the system. With TestTrack Pro, you can email anyone from an issue and track the email with the issue. Replies to that email sent from outside of TestTrack are automatically captured in the TestTrack email thread. for review, need a unit test, or are due for promotion. Issue tracking helps ensure the right things get done Source code management is just one element of your agile toolkit. Issue tracking is also essential. Even with constant verbal communication, it is impossible to keep track of the project backlog, stories, bugs, issues, and tasks without some kind of system. The challenge is to create an issue tracking process that keeps things flowing without bogging you down in administrative busy work. TestTrack Pro allows you to manage your issues as transparently as possible. Communicate automatically Frequent communication between team members is a key component of agile development. Developers need to know who is working on what, and more importantly, when a portion of code is finished. While face-to-face interactions and standups are important, you want to make them as effective as possible. Your stand-up meetings should address critical issues that need the entire team’s attention. Lower priority communications should flow automatically from your development tools. You can configure Surround SCM to automatically send out notification emails when specific files change so no one’s left waiting around. You can also call scripts when certain operations occur. For example, when a developer checks in a particular file a trigger can kick off the build script so a new build is waiting for QA. You can also use Surround SCM with a continuous integration tool like Cruise Control. Adapt data to changing priorities In agile environments, requirements are fluid and can change anytime in the process, and release planning happens frequently. With many tracking solutions, individual items either stand alone or are tied together in static relationships. In order to react nimbly to the changing landscape of a project and your backlog, you need to link and group defect, issues, and tasks in multiple ways to match a variety of user scenarios and requirements. TestTrack folders allow you to group items in a way that makes sense to you. Items can exist in multiple folders at the same time, allowing you to Use only as much process as you need Many issue management systems force you to use their built-in processes. Customizing the workflow or adding new fields requires extensive work that takes you away from more productive activities. TestTrack Pro includes a straightforward workflow that is easy to cus- Capture just the right information Every development team is different. You want to be able to manage your code using your specific practices and terminology. Surround SCM makes it easy to capture metadata through custom fields that are easy to configure and manage. With custom fields, you can see which files are ready Figure 3: Use folders to adapt data to your needs.

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Dr. Dobb's Journal - November 2008

Dr. Dobb's Journal - November 2008 Contents Friday Night Fish Fry Alia Vox Developer Diaries Developer's Notebook Saving Open Source Conversations iPhone Building Your Own Web Server Green Telnet What's New In Boost Threads? Testing Service Oriented Architectures Test Case Generation, UML, and Eclipse Unit Testing Web Services C3 Programming The Agile Edge Swaine's Flames Effective Concurrency

Dr. Dobb's Journal - November 2008

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