Software Configuration Management (Wayne Babich)

On any team project, a certain degree of confusion is inevitable. The goal is to minimize this confusion so that more work can get done. The art of coordinating software development? to minimize this particular type of confusion is called configuration management. Configuration management is the art of identifying, organizing, and controlling modifications to the software being built by a programming team. The goal is to maximize productivity by minimizing mistakes.

Wayne Babich; Software Configuration Management: Coordination for Team Productivity; Addison-Wesley, 1986.