I see a lot of ISV’s using SCRUM. With nice whiteboards showing from a distance where a team stands in their current sprint.

If you haven’t gotten started on SCRUM yet and have just a couple of minutes, then the wikipedia article is a great place to start: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrum_(development)

Interesting also is how VSTS and SCRUM integrate. Having a whiteboard and wiki is great but doesn’t mean that an integrated ALM system doesn’t offer added value anymore.

There are tools available that looks really interesting. Did you know about these? Have you tried them?

- http://www.codeplex.com/VSTSScrum

- http://scrumforteamsystem.com/en/

At TechDays, Joel Semenuik delivered a presentation on this topic which I’m looking forward to seeing online (soon I’m told).

Joel Semeniuk
Lean Principles, Agile Techniques, and Team System
read more

Lean Software Development, inspired by Lean Product Development, is asking us to look at how we approach software and focus our efforts on eliminating waste. In this session we will explore the 7 key principles of Lean Software Development as well as map these principles to agile development and management tools and techniques that you can use today. In this session we will also show you how tools found in Visual Studio Team System can support your lean processes.

I was taught that documenting the code is almost as important as a writing it.

On this site you find some hilarious comments: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/184618/what-is-the-best-comment-in-source-code-you-have-ever-encountered

Like this one:

//When I wrote this, only God and I understood what I was doing
//Now, God only knows


Or:

try

{
}

finally

{

// should never happen
}

Next week I’ll be speaking at the Application Lifecycle Management event organized by QFrame and eXertus.

The event has a very nice agenda for those getting started ALM and Visual Studio Team System.

Interesting touch is that attendees get a consultancy session afterwards  where an assessment is made on how ALM would help them.

Date: Tuesday April 28th 2009 @ 13h30
Location: Pullman Hotel, Brussels Airport

Yesterday at CloudCamp Antwerp someone claimed that all you need is a browser these days. I started thinking about it and while I believe that we will be able to do a lot more in the browser moving forward, the reality is that today browser based offerings are almost always inferior when there is a rich client alternative.

1. Work with many files open and switch quickly between them.
2. Create great office documents. There are a lot of features I find in Office that aren’t matched by browser based offerings today. Maybe someday, but not today.
3. Anything offline.
4. Create good quality video and edit it.
5. Advanced photo editing
6. My whole music collection is offline. I use media center, you might use iTunes or media player to play your songs
7. Be productive with managing email.
8. Use handwriting. I have a Tablet PC and use it like one.
9. Write code like a pro. Some would claim I can’t write like a pro no matter what.
10. Play a good game

Of course browser capabilities are evolving and technologies like Silverlight OOB and Google Gears will push the boundaries of the browser apps.

The Tech Ed team listened to the attendees and decide to combine the Developers event and the IT Professionals event back together in one week.

So developers and it pros, mark the date: Tech Ed Europe, 9-13 November in the Messe Convention Center in Berlin.

Keep your eyes on this site for more news:

http://www.microsoft.com/teched/europe.

Here’s the official line:

Tech·Ed Europe 2009 will once again be focused into a single week for both communities. The change in format back to a combined event is based on feedback from both our developer and IT professional audiences who in this time of economic uncertainty prefer a single week activity. For 16 years, Tech·Ed Europe has provided our customers the best technical education event in the industry and we look forward to continuing to deliver the great content, education and connection opportunities.

Tech•Ed 2009 Europe

Nov 9-13, 2009

Messe Convention Center

Berlin, Germany