The Art of Lean Software Development

Discipline in an Integrated Environment

Using a shared codebase under SCM and a scripted build system creates an integrated environment and promotes an increased level of team interaction. If your team is disciplined about sharing and coordinating, you can maximize the benefit of your new tools.

Share

Commit as often as possible, preferably after each chunk of progress is complete. If everyone builds against your latest code, your team will discover integration problems such as bugs and design flaws very quickly, before they become more time-consuming and expensive to fix. Committing often can also improve your team morale. When each member of the team regularly updates, it makes progress more tangible and increases the sense of a shared goal, which will boost the whole team’s productivity.

Coordinate

Avoid stepping on each other’s toes by coordinating development and design tasks. Don’t feel like you have to put this coordination off until your team meetings. You should pull together the necessary team members and address design issues as soon as they present themselves. This will both eliminate unnecessary rework and help you design code that is easy to integrate.