I was just reading Jeff Atwood's "The F5 Key Is Not a Build Process." I find it interesting that the build process seems to be the end of it. The reality is that you also have to have a document telling people how to access all the code and what they need to have installed on their computer. It could be a page or 20 pages, but if you don't document all the software needed and the steps to configure it, you are just as lost as only having the build process. Mainly because you most likely have one or two people on the project still in charge with that information locked in their heads.
Don't get me wrong, I love the automated build process. I just advocate more and not just as a mechanism to have it. We have added 3 new people to the team, and I literally have handed them this document and said, "Look through this before you ask me any questions." And, its worked—except for our Project Manager…