Got his complaint recently.
"Developers on a fairly routine basis check in code into the wrong branch."
Followed by a common form of the lazy and stupid complaint. "Someone should think about which branch is used for what and when." Clearly "someone" means the programmers and "should think about" means are stupid.
This was followed by the "more process will fix this process problem" litany of candidate solutions.
"Does CVS / Subversion have a knob which provides the functionality to
prevent developers from checking code into a branch?"
"Is there a canonical way to organize branches?" Really, this means something like what are the lazy, stupid programmers doing wrong?
Plus there where rhetorical non-questions to emphasize the lazy, stupid root cause. "Why is code merging so hard?" (Stupid.) "If code is properly done and not coupled, merging should be easy?" (Lazy; a better design would prevent this.) "Perhaps the developers don't understand the code and screw up the merge?" (Stupid.) "If the code is not coupled, understanding should be easy?" (Both Lazy and Stupid.)
Root Cause Analysis
The complaint is about process failure. Tools do not cause (or even contribute) to process failure. There are two possible contributions to process failure: the process and the people.
The process could be flawed. There could be no earthly way the programmers can locate the correct branch because (a) it doesn't exist when they need it or (b) no one told them which branch to use.
The people could be flawed. For whatever reason, they refuse to execute the process. Perhaps they know a better way, perhaps they're just being jerks.
Technical means will not solve either root cause problem. It will -- generally -- exacerbate it. If the process is broken, then attempting to create CVS / Subversion "controls" will end in expensive, elaborate failure. Either they can't be made to work, or (eventually) someone will realize that they don't actually solve the problem. On the other hand, if the people are broken, they'll just subvert the controls in more interesting, silly and convoluted ways.
My response -- at the time -- was not "analyze the root causes". When I first got this, I could only stare at it dumbfounded. My answer was "You're right, your developers are lazy and stupid. Good call. Add more process to overcome their laziness and stupidity."
After all, the questioner clearly knows -- for a fact -- that more process helps fix a broken organization. The questioner must be convinced that actually talking to people will never help.
The question was not "what can I do?" The question was "can I control these people through changes to CVS?" There's a clear presumption of "process not working -- must have more process."
The better response from me should have been. "Ask them what the problem is." I'll bet dollars against bent pins that no one tells them which branch to use in time to start work. I'll bet they're left guessing. Also, there's a small chance that these are off-shore developers and communication delays make it difficult to use the correct branch. There may be no work-orders, just informal email "communication" between on-shore and off-shore points-of-contact (and, perhaps, the points-of-contact aren't decision-makers.)
Bottom Line. If people can't make CVS work, someone needs to talk to them to find out why. Someone does not need to invent more process to control them.
Talking to people should be the process.
ReplyDeleteWe recently added a lengthy new freeze stage to our release cycle. Anyone who
wants to check in longterm code can use the newer branch, anyone who needs to
get into the release about to land needs to request and be given a "freezeok"
tag on their bug. I told them: "If you forget, you will be devoured by
zombies."
The first couple of times someone pushed code to the frozen branch without the
tag I used http://diy.despair.com/motivator.php with an image of their faces
superimposed on somebody being eaten by zombies. Everyone laughed. Nobody did
it again.
Is that so damn hard?
Actually, I think SVN/CVS (i.e. tools) could be contributing to the problem, as merging with them is a PITA.
ReplyDeleteIn respect of your question:
ReplyDelete"Does CVS / Subversion have a knob which provides the functionality to
prevent developers from checking code into a branch?"
As far as I know, subversion itself doesn't. But if the repository is served up by mod_dav_svn under Apache then it isn't that hard to configure some Apache directives which block the HTTP method types relating to update of a subversion directory for the appropriate part of the URL namespace. We use this, and what it allows is for someone to create a new tag, remove that whole tag, check out from that tag, but not commit any changes into that tag.
I'm not at work today so don't have handy what the rules are, but if remember will post them later.
>> Tools do not cause (or even contribute) to process failure. There are two possible contributions to process failure: the process and the people.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was working in quality assurance and concentrating on process improvement, we identified the following 6 factors affecting process effectiveness.
1. procedures - How well do the established procedures work?
2. tools - Do the people have the tools that they need? Do the tools work well?
3. training - Do the people doing the work have adequate training in the procedures, how to use the machines, general background information?
4. the reward system - What are you actually rewarding? If management *says* it wants a quality product, but promotes people who deliver a product *quickly* regardless of product quality, then the de facto reward system is rewarding speed, not quality.
5. the inputs to the process - If you are getting crappy inputs, you're going to produce crappy outputs. (See yesterday's headlines: if a home builder gets toxic drywall from China, he builds a toxic house)
6. the suitability of the people to the job - Here, the problem is your hiring process. If you hire square pegs to fit in round holes, then of course you will have problems.
Notice that there is no category for "lazy and stupid people". This is not a useful category if you're actually trying to improve a process.
But this is, of course, the *only* category that Management has traditionally recognized and used. Its use, of course, doesn't help improve anything. All it does is to give a manager whose processes aren't functioning well some place to shift the blame.
So: a few more tools to use when thinking about process issues.