"Selling" trac/buildbot/etc to upper management

Question

My team works mostly w/ Flex-based applications. That being said, there are nearly no conventions at all (even getting them to refactor is a miracle in itself) and the like.

Coming from a .NET + CruiseControl.NET background, I've been aching to getting everyone to use some decent tracking software (we're using a todo list coded in PHP now) and CI; I figured trac+BuildBot would be a nice option.

How would you convince upper management that this is the way to go, as well as some of the rules mentioned in this post? One of my main issues is that everyone codes without thinking (You'd be amazed at the type of "logic" this spawns...)

Thanks

Grogram

Answer 1

Is there anything you could do now that wouldn't require permission from anyone else? Could you start by just using trac/buildbot/etc for just your own work, then add in others as they are interested?

In my experience you can get quite far by doing w/out asking.

Lowering

Sure, that'd be an easy way. I'll probably start off doing that, but I still want them to change - this place is awesome, but man... sometimes I wonder if they've ever coded anything according to standards. – Grogram

People are most likely to change when they see results. I had a friend who ran CruiseControl on his desktop. Eventually people asked how he always knew when the build was broken. When he showed them they said "we should do this for everyone!" :) – Lowering

I agree with this, every tool I've ever had to convince somebody to use, I've done by just using it myself. Eventually they see the benefits if there really are any. – Coreencorel

Answer 2

Tell the management that they'll be better able to keep their eye on progress with such a tool.

Chemnitz

This actually works very well. If there's one thing managers love, it's new ways to keep drones in line... :-P – Fredette

Answer 3

Are there specific benefits to the route that you're suggesting that you could show them without them having to buy in?

I had an experience with getting my team to accept a maven + cruisecontrol CI setup. Basically I tried to get them to go along with it for a few days and they kept balking because it was unfamiliar. Then I just did it on my own and had all broken builds emailed to the mailing list. That night the project lead made a check in that broke the build (he just forgot a file) and, of course, everybody was emailed with his screw up.

The next day he came over to me and said, "I get it now."

It required no effort from him to get involved and got to see the benefits for free.

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