http://blog.nwcadence.com Thoughts on VSTS, Sharepoint and other collaborative technologies Tue, 18 Nov 2008 18:44:26 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en As more information is released about VSTS 2010, it is so easy to get caught up in the excitement of new features and the infrastructure planning for your upgrade ends up falling behind and eventually implemented at the last minute.  Brian Harry blogged not too long ago about some of ... http://blog.nwcadence.com/2008/11/18/vsts-2010-infrastructure-changes/ The one constant is change.  So how do developers avoid from sinking amidst the strong currents of change and stay informed of the changing tides?  They stay afloat by accessing an abundance of resources.  At Northwest Cadence, we regularly check the MSDN Flash Newsletter as a portal for the latest news, ... http://blog.nwcadence.com/2008/11/18/msdn-flash/ If you are an active Gold or Certified Microsoft Partner with either a CDS (Custom Development Solutions) or ISV(Independent Software Vendor)/Software Soltuions Compentency then you have till the end of the year for a great discount on Team Suite. Between October 1, 2008 and December 31, 2008, active Gold and Certified ... http://blog.nwcadence.com/2008/11/14/vsts-2008-team-suite-with-msdn-professional-for-%e2%89%88-3000/ In the previous two posts (Part 2 and Part 3) I covered an ideal bug process and the metrics you gather from the process. In this post I'll start talking about how to use those metrics to really improve the process. I'll also talk a bit more about who's responsible ... http://blog.nwcadence.com/2008/11/14/practical-process-improvement-part-4/ The Novemberish October TFS 2008 power tools were released over the weekend so grab the download now! Windows shell extension for source control, powershell integration, team collaboration tools (messaging, workspace templates, check in history, view shelvesets and pending changes, distribution of custom components). This power tools release is huge and for some ... http://blog.nwcadence.com/2008/11/11/tfs-2008-october-power-tools-released/ Steven Borg of Northwest Cadence (Microsoft Team System MVP) took a road trip to Portland to speak to a very interested audience about the new features of Team Build 2008, an inherent and powerful part of Visual Studio Team System 2008.  There were a total of 68 students from 35 ... http://blog.nwcadence.com/2008/11/11/team-build-event-in-portland/ Hearing many of my fellow agilists talk, you'd think requirements management, and even requirements themselves, have shuffled off their mortal coil.  Unless, of course, they are provided on a 3x5 card and ranked in a one-dimensional, user prioritized stack.  Let me apologize for a moment for using narrowly defining the ... http://blog.nwcadence.com/2008/11/09/requirements-are-not-dead/ I will be giving a talk on reporting with TFS at Seattle Code Camp on Sunday, November 16 from 2:45pm to 4:00pm. Metrics that Matter: Reporting with Team Foundation Server Am I crazy to think that making informed decisions in regards to your software development process is a good idea? Of course ... http://blog.nwcadence.com/2008/11/06/tfs-reporting-session-at-seattle-code-camp/ In the last post in this series I discussed the process involved around the first part of the ideal bug process. In this post I will finish up the rest of the process and metrics for handling bugs. Fixed, unverified This state indicates the bug has been fixed according to the developer. This ... http://blog.nwcadence.com/2008/10/31/practical-process-improvement-part-3/ Unfortunately, the MVP TV session "Gaze Into the Crystal Ball: Reporting in Team System" session had to be rescheduled due to a malformed URL being sent to the attendees.  Not too many folks were able to make it into the LiveMeeting.  So, if you were one of those folks, we ... http://blog.nwcadence.com/2008/10/29/mvp-tv-rescheduled/