At Remain Software we work with a training that discusses how we addressALM issues. When I start talking about the different elements in the Software Change process I often see my audience’s eyes glaze over.

At that moment I like to break it down and show how simple the change process really is. To do that, I point out that there are four essential steps in every change process. Here is the universal four-step change process.:

1. In every change process there is already something in existence. In your shop that is everything that is currently in production. We watch out for problems. I like to call this "the monitoring state".

2. Software components leave the monitoring state when they are broken in some way or no longer provides the required functionality. We now enter the requirements state. What do I require to fix this?

3. After the requirements are defined and documented, we can change the components, or add some new ones, to fix what is broken. This is the development state. It stays in this state until it is fixed, tested and approved.

4. After the change has been completed (well, almost), the components need to be inserted back into the production environment. This is the deployment state.

No matter what your profession is, this change process is universal. When the basic steps are clear, we can start adding the complexity.