How can I convince my department to implement a version control system?

Question

I recently joined the IT department of a big insurance company. Although the department\'s title is \"IT\", a lot of code gets written here; Java, JSP, JavaScript, COBOL and eve

Answer 1

I would point out the hazards of not having one - lost code, developers over writing each other changes, ability to rollback problems, etc.

Also since Subversion and some others are free, point out there is no real cost to purchase, jsut the time to implement.

The biggest issue you will have as the new guy is that you will be seen as rockign the boat, if they had no issues to date they will be hard to convince. Perhaps start using it locally jsut for yourself and maybe they will like what they see and start to adopt it.

I would try small steps, maybe ask the others if they ever used one, point out the benefits, when an issue arises that a system would have prevented or aided in point it out delicately.