In 2010, developers will learn to let go and adapt to a centralized resource pool, continuous testing will eclipse continuous integration, coffee breaks will get shorter, open source CI tools will buckle in big shops, and distributed software configuration management tools will cross the chasm from open source projects to the enterprise.

In this article, infrastructure analyst Tony Baer reminds us not to overlook the most basic assumptions. It should be a given that IT’s purpose is to serve the business, but IT departments seeking approval to invest in application lifecycle management often fail because they base their case on technical grounds. Baer argues that if they focused instead on business goals they would win approval more easily and – not incidentally – would restore application lifecycle management to its proper role of supporting the business.

The disciplines of Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) are evolving to meet the changing requirements of business. Not only are old disciplines evolving, but new disciplines such as project and portfolio management (PPM) are emerging to bring application development organizations closer to the business. These disciplines need to be supported by a new generation of ALM tools that break down functional silos and promote collaboration and role-focused views of the application lifecycle.

It's an age-old question: best of breed, or a one-vendor, soup-to nuts-solution? In the application lifecycle management (ALM) market, recent activity has seen big vendors getting bigger through acquisition, point solution providers rounding out their offerings to position in the ALM space, and specialists sticking to their knitting by deepening the functionality of their products.

Newest ALM tools keep developers focused and on task