Branching

I've mentioned Martin Fowler before, and he recently finished his series on branching. While there's way too much info to share here, it can be summarized with this quote, so I'll just send you all over to his page to read about it there.

I start with: "what if there was no branching". Everybody would be editing the live code, half-baked changes would bork the system, people would be stepping all over each other. And so we give individuals the illusion of frozen time, that they are the only ones changing the system and those changes can wait until they are fully baked before risking the system. But this is an illusion and eventually the price for it comes due. Who pays? When? How much? That's what these patterns are discussing: alternatives for paying the piper.

    -- Kent Beck

While you're there you should look around and see what else you find interesting. There's almost certainly something that will open your mind on something you thought was settled.