You’ve probably found a few comparisons on the interwebs comparing the “traditional”, on-premise TFS with the new cloud-hosted Team Foundation Service. I get asked about this a lot – as a result, I thought I’d share the slide deck I used to drive this conversation. Please let me know if you have any questions!
 
Basically, TF Service is a nice way to get up and running quickly, without worrying about infrastructure, backups, etc. What you lose is some customization, lab management, and SSRS reporting.
Happy developing!
Imaginet is thrilled to provide you with exclusive invitations to our Winter Webcast Series covering a variety of new topics on Microsoft’s Visual Studio 2012 ALM Tools. This is your exclusive opportunity to gain incredible insights, learn new skills, and understand how to best leverage some incredible new technologies from Microsoft. Space is limited to 500 participants per webcast!
A Day in the Life: Developer Enhancements with Visual Studio 2012
The newest release of Visual Studio 2012 is rich with new tools that enhance standard developer activities. In this session, we'll review and demonstrate some of these new features, such as Unit Testing, Code Reviews, Code Clones, and other developer tools. Come join us for this free Webinar!
January 10, 2013 1:00-2:30pm CT
January 24, 2013 1:00-2:30pm CT
Top 10 Business Benefits of Application Lifecycle Management (ALM)
Why should your business focus on Application Lifecycle Management? What benefits will you see to your overall business? How does ALM impact your bottom line? Come attend this free webinar to discover all the answers!
January 14, 2013 1:00-2:00pm CT
Operations Management in the Application Lifecycle
Application lifecycles start when the software is envisioned and lasts until it is retired. Most of that time is generally spent in maintenance and upgrade, after an application is deployed into production but before it is retired. This session will describe how to optimize this segment of the application's lifecycle with new Microsoft tools.
January 17, 2013 1:00-2:30pm
January 31, 2013 1:00-2:30pm
How Microsoft's ALM Tools Can Improve Your Bottom Line
Improved efficiencies, enhanced productivity, reduction of wasted time and effort, and improved team collaboration. Each of these benefits that result from adopting a successful ALM strategy will all help your bottom line. Come find out how at this free webinar!
February 4, 2013 1:00-2:00pm CT
Upgrading to TFS 2012: What You Need to Know!
Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 brings a number of new features into the integrated ALM toolset. With new features like PowerPoint Storyboarding, Integrated Code Review Features, Stakeholder Feedback, and a newly integrated Developer / Operations Workflow, you will quickly find many reasons to upgrade to Visual Studio and Team Foundation Server 2012! In this webinar, we'll briefly discuss the breadth of new ALM features. Come join us for this free Webinar!
February 7, 2013 1:00-2:30pm CT
February 21, 2013 1:00-2:30pm CT
Getting Started With Coded UI testing: Building Your First Automated Test
This training seminar will demonstrate how to record tests run against various types of application user interfaces using Microsoft Visual Studio's Coded UI Tests and how to replay them at any time. Additionally, we will explore how to embed validations, either simple or elaborate, to ensure your application is producing the correct results. Learn how to improve the quality of your applications by having a repeatable set of Microsoft Coded UI Tests available to ensure defects don’t go unnoticed!
February 14, 2013 1:00-2:30pm CT
February 28, 2013 1:00-2:30pm CT
Lean, Kanban, and TFS
Kanban was originally created as a scheduling system to help manufacturing organizations determine what to produce, when to produce it, and how much to produce. Although this may not sound like software development, these lean principles can be successfully applied to development teams to improve the delivery of value through better visibility and limits on work in process. This webinar will provide an overview of the Kanban method, including the history and motivation, the core principles and practices, and how these apply to efficiency and process improvement in software development. We'll also describe how Team Foundation Server can be used as a foundation for your work visualization and work flow management. Come join us for this free Webinar!
March 7, 2013 1:00-2:30pm CT
March 21, 2013 1:00-2:30pm CT
Using Lean and Kanban to Revolutionize Your Organization
With the introduction of Lean and Kanban into the software developments, teams are now starting to discover how to leverage these principles to revolutionize how they do business. Come find out how you can use Lean and Kanban together with Microsoft TFS to make dramatic improvements in your organization!
March 11, 2013 1:00-2:00pm CT
The Newest of the New with Visual Studio and TFS 2012
By itself, Visual Studio 2012 included many compelling new features not available in prior releases. But Microsoft hasn't stopped. Since the production release in August 2012, Microsoft has continued to release more new capabilities. In this session we'll walk through some of the latest and greatest enhancements that you can use in your Visual Studio and TFS 2012 environment.
March 14, 2013 1:00-2:30pm CT
March 28, 2013 1:00-2:30pm CT
For questions or more information on Imaginet's webcasts, please feel free to contact us at info@imaginet.com or by calling 1-800-989-6022.
Delivered by Imaginet
Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 Premium offers an array of tools for managing your entire software lifecycle, including: planning, development, building, testing, tracking, and deployment. We will discuss and demonstrate how the Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 Premium Edition can take your software development to a whole new level that cannot be achieved with the Visual Studio 2012 Professional Edition alone. Come join us for this free webinar!
Register here: https://clicktoattend.microsoft.com/en-us/Pages/EventDetails.aspx?EventID=163437
This hackathon was renamed from WowZapp!
This event is an open hackathon, where you'll put all your coding skills into practice. Code to your heart's content, with experts available for one-on-one consultation to guide you through every step of the process. And did we mention that it's free?
There's never been a better time to build apps.
Windows 8 has launched, hardware manufacturers are readying new devices, and millions of consumers are starting to upgrade. We can't guarantee your success, but releasing a first-of-its-kind app in the Windows Store can't hurt your reputation – or your bottom line.
This full-day event will be filled with coding, sharing, plenty of food, and the occasional Lightning Talk on topics determined by your apps and questions. Bring your own laptop (for recommended system specs, click on the city nearest you), your apps and your best ideas, and get ready to create!
Prizes will be awarded for best Win 8 app, best Windows Phone app, and best use of Azure. Register today and join us for this fantastic (and free) developer opportunity.
Bring your laptop and your brilliant ideas for that new Windows 8 app. We’ll help you code it. Gen Appathon is a free hackathon happening on November 9 in cities nationwide. It’s the perfect chance to build your dream app, or put the finishing touches on that app you’ve already started. Either way, you’ll get one-on-one support from Microsoft and community experts who can guide you at every step of the way. We’ll also award prizes for best Win 8 app, best Windows phone app, and best use of Azure. Register today and don’t miss this full day of coding, food, prizes and hands-on consultation.
Will I see you there?
That’s right! FKA TFS Preview has graduated to a fully-released service!
For a graduation present, the official URL has been updated to http://tfs.visualstudio.com.
TFS Preview will continue as a valid URL for a little while longer, but now that “TFS in the Cloud” is officially online and available, you can start using the new URL. http://[youraccountname].visualstudio.com.
The first real pricing option was also announced, the FREE one! TF Service will be available for free for teams of up to 5 users, and includes all the bells and whistles that you know and love from TFS: version control, work item tracking, agile planning, feedback management, and more. And not to mention there’s no limit on number of projects.
Additional pricing plans will be announced as they become available, according to Brian Harry on the TFS news page.
Enjoy!
Here are some upcoming webcasts from our ALM partner Northwest Cadence! Simply click on the links in the “Code” column to register!
Coffee Talk: Northwest Cadence – A Lap Around Visual Studio 2012
Summary: An introduction to the major new features and improvements in Visual Studio 2012. Expect to see the new enhanced User Interface, Agile Planning Tools, Requirements Gathering Tool, Stakeholder Feedback Tool, Updates to the Developer and Tester Experience, Version Control Improvements, and DevOps Integration. The list goes on but the ride starts here, so buckle up and join us for this lap around Visual Studio 2012.
DATE
TIME
CODE
September 28, 2012
October 12, 2012
October 26, 2012
8:30 AM –9:30 AM PST
nwclaparound928
4171027656
4171109902
Visit http://nwcadence.com/events for a full list of upcoming events.
Coffee Talk: Northwest Cadence – Leveraging your SA Benefits
Summary: Join Northwest Cadence as we provide you with an overview of the three (3) DTDPS offerings. We will explain how to activate and strategically utilize these benefits to enhance your software deployment planning. In addition, we will review how you can connect DTDPS to other Software Assurance benefits within your agreement to ensure you gain the highest return on your investment.
October 8, 2012
November 12, 2012
9:00 AM –10:00 AM PST
4184219112
4184237166
Coffee Talk: Northwest Cadence – Introduction to Kanban
Summary: Kanban is a Lean-inspired approach to software development. Although the rules of Kanban are simple, they are also remarkably powerful. By simply visualizing work, limiting work in process, and monitoring the flow of work, the team begins a powerful process of discovery and improvement. This has resulted in impressive improvements in nearly all areas of software development time and time again. During this event, we will talk about the five basic principles of Kanban adoption, the benefits of adoption, and the pitfalls along the way.
October 10, 2012
October 24, 2012
162401
162402
Coffee Talk: Northwest Cadence – Migrating Without Fear: Visual Source Safe to the new TFS2012
Summary: Moving code from one repository to another has never been the hard part of migrating from VSS to TFS. It’s fast, it’s safe, you keep backups, so what’s the holdup? If your developers have been pushing back because they’re afraid TFS will totally disrupt their daily coding practices, you’re not alone! (And they weren’t entirely wrong.) Local Workspaces in TFS 2012 may be just the thing you need to change the conversation. Learn more about these and other first-class code management features and get your team ready to make the leap!
October 31, 2012
November 14, 2012
162403
162406
Coffee Talk: Northwest Cadence – Refactoring Without Fear: Architecture in the new Visual Studio 2012 Ultimate
Summary: Refactoring a production application feels an awful lot like trying to swap out the hydraulics on a jumbo jet in the air. On the other hand, sub-standard hydraulics don’t sound so great either. That’s what refactoring is about: improving code to provide long-term stability and maintainability. Done right, it can reduce overall costs and dramatically increase user satisfaction, even accelerate new feature development. In this session, learn the basics of refactoring: what and why to refactor, when and how to work it into your team’s overall process, and key technical strategies like unit testing, automated build, and architectural verification that make technology renewal on-the-fly safer and simpler than ever.
November 7, 2012
162404
Coffee Talk: Northwest Cadence – Embracing Modern App Development with Visual Studio 2012
Summary: Whether it’s Test-Driven Development, Test-First Development, or just plain figuring out whether your code does what you want it to do, unit testing is the standard for modern application development and a must-have for agile teams—but getting started can be a real challenge. What should you test? How granular should your tests be? How do you isolate code? How much code coverage is reasonable? If you’ve hit a wall, you’re not alone.
Get straightforward, practical guidance you can use today to jump-start your team’s unit testing efforts and finally see for yourself what the big deal is.
November 19, 2012
162405
In this post, I’m going to take a closer look at how the new Feedback capabilities in TFS 2012 works under the covers.
In general, TFS users can request “feedback” from stakeholders about particular elements/areas of an application. This can be either specific or general scenarios. TFS manages the feedback process using work items and email notifications. But how does this work, really? Let’s find out!
You initiate a feedback request from your project (or team) dashboard by clicking on “Request Feedback”
In this example, I’m soliciting feedback for Bing searches. And I’ve asked for two items of feedback (called “feedback items”, see Step 3 in the screenshot).
So what happens when I actually click send?
Well, as far as the stakeholder is concerned, they just get an email with some simple instructions to get started:
But on the TFS side, TFS creates two work items (of type Feedback Request), one for each feedback item specified in the previous request (see #142 and #143):
Let’s look at #142 (Search for ‘Steve Lange’) and see what’s stored.
The Title field obviously houses the name of the feedback item. On the Details tab, the Description field holds the specific instructions that correspond with the feedback item.
On the Application tab you’ll find the details from step 2 on the request form (“Tell the Stakeholders How to Access the Application”).
And lastly, you’ll notice that the feedback items (Feedback Request work items) are linked together to form the more composite request.
So how can we see to whom this request was sent? Look in the comments of the history for the work item (at the bottom of the screenshot):
The benefit of this approach is that it allows feedback items to be tracked individually. If you submit a feedback request, but ask stakeholders to check out features that align with different backlog items/requirements/whatever, this method provides more specific tracking.
Another less obvious, but equally nice benefit to managing feedback requests this way is that you can make changes to the request without creating an entire new one. This is possible because the link that’s inserted in the email sent to the stakeholders references the work item ID’s of the feedback request items, rather than embedding all the instructions in the URL (or statically somewhere else).
So if I make a mistake I don’t have to create a brand new request, but instead the Title, Description, and other applicable fields on the Application tab and have the stakeholder simply reuse the previously-sent link.
In this example, the URL provided in the email looks like this (see bolded area):
mfbclients://<my_subdomain>.tfspreview.com/DefaultCollection/p:Sandbox?rid=142%2C143
By updating either of the work items specified in the URL, the feedback session will subsequently be updated.
You can modify the URL and send it directly to someone without filling out the feedback request form. For instance, if I requested feedback of work items 142 and 143 from certain people but also wanted feedback on work item 143 from an additional person I can augment the URL and send it to that one-off person. In this example it would look like:
mfbclients://<my_subdomain>.tfspreview.com/DefaultCollection/p:Sandbox?rid=143
Here’s the basic breakdown of the URL:
mfbclients://<TFS_URL>/CollectionName/p<Project_Name>?rid=<work_item_ids>
So let’s say I walk through the process of providing feedback using the Microsoft Feedback Client. For summary, here’s the feedback I provide:
Once I submit my feedback through the Feedback Client, a work item (of type Feedback Response) is created for each individual reply. (See #144 and #145 below)
Again, this allows teams to track individual responses to discrete items. So if a stakeholder skips feedback for a particular item, it doesn’t interfere with feedback on other items.
Here’s one last great feature. As the stakeholder, let’s say I want to either review or amend feedback I’ve already provided, or submit additional feedback. I’m covered! If I simply click on the link provided in the original feedback request email, upon entering the “Provide” step of my feedback session TFS is smart enough to see that I’ve already provided feedback. In doing so, it inserts the feedback details I provided earlier into the Feedback Client. So now I can make changes to existing feedback, or enter more information.
For example, here’s the Feedback Response work item created from my first submitted feedback:
If I click on the URL in the original email sent to the stakeholder, the Feedback Client runs again, and I can instantly see the feedback I’d previously supplied:
(Look familiar?)
Really all it’s doing is looking at the Feedback Request work item, checking to see if there is a Feedback Response item submitted by me already. If there is, it pulls the content of the Stakeholder Comments field and sends it over to the Feedback Client for the stakeholder to make further edits. Sweet!
The basic thing to remember here is that the Feedback Management process in TFS uses TFS work items to manage the storage and workflow of providing feedback. Think of the Feedback Client as a very lightweight TFS client. Changes you make in the Feedback Client either create or update Feedback Response work items in TFS. Direct changes made in TFS to the work items are reflected in the Feedback Client when those work items are accessed.
I hope this helps better explain how feedback actually works in TFS 2012. It’s terrific and easy way to engage stakeholders to get feedback at various points in the development lifecycle. But it’s a flexible implementation as well, providing mechanisms for reuse and more granular tracking.
The events just keep comin’ from our awesome partners! See below for the latest schedule of ALM webcasts from Neudesic.
October 30th – Scrum and Agile Management with Visual Studio 2012, Presented by Clementino de Mendonca
Find out how Visual Studio has become the tool of choice to manage your Scrum projects, and how it stands out of the way allowing you to do Agile in your own terms instead of forcing you to adapt your development process to a tool. We will take a tour on how you can enact Scrum best practices and cycles, allowing the team to always have a clear picture of Done should look like at the end of a sprint through using Team Foundation Server as a team communication hub.
November 1st – Requirements and Stortyboarding in the Visual Studio 2012, Presented by William Salazar
Many teams use mockups or storyboards to describe general application appearance and flow. This session will demonstrate new features in Visual Studio 2012 that support creating, presenting and maturing storyboards using tools you already know. And then we’ll show how this process fits into the rest of your application’s lifecycle.
November 6th – Creating a Branch Strategy, what it is, why you need one, and how you get started, Presented by Clementino de Mendonca
Do you know for sure which code base snapshot in your source control system matches what is in production? What is the best strategy to manage source code for team members working in parallel in different features? In this talk we will take a look at creating branching strategies that answer these and other questions, and allow you to balance simplicity, isolation, and speed in your software development efforts.
November 8th – DevOps: Integrating Operations for Continuous Delivery, Presented by William Salazar
Integrating Development and Operations teams deeply using new practices and tools is critical to delivering on the promise of shorter cycle times, improved mean time to repair, and increased business value that all companies that build software want to fulfill. Organizations that use practices and tools to integrate development and operations can significantly speed up their Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) process and enable continuous delivery of software to their customers, whether internal or external. Developers and Operations engineers are increasingly working closer together to maintain always on services. Visual Studio 2012 with System Center 2012 give developers and operations the tools to work seamlessly together to reduce the mean time to repair for defects in production applications.
Learn about some of the newest features in Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 and System Center 2012, including:
Register:
November 14th – Collecting Actionable Feedback with Visual Studio, Presented by Clementino de Mendonca
Most teams collect feedback from customers in one way or another but it fails to trickle down as something that developers can use to improve the product. See how Visual Studio can help you capture, structure and tie feedback into your existing development efforts with Microsoft Feedback Client, allowing you to provide actionable starting points for your development and testing efforts. REGISTER TODAY!
November 15th – Developer Testing with Visual Studios, Presented by William Salazar
From the ground up, the developer testing experience in Visual Studio 2012 was designed to allow developers to focus on their code and avoid unnecessary distractions. Test Explorer is now easily extended, allowing you to add third-party testing frameworks in addition to those shipped with Visual Studio. Visual Studio also includes the new Fakes framework to let developers create fast running and isolated unit tests. In this session, we will review the new developer testing experience in the context of a typical day-to-day workflow, showing how these features will help you quickly write better quality code.
November 27th – Improving Small Team Productivity with Team Foundation Server, Presented by Clementino de Mendonca
Team members in smaller teams have always had to wear multiple hats: talk to customer, develop, test, talk to customer, fix bugs, retest, talk to customer, deploy… did I forget to mention you also have to plan your releases? No way you can do this without some automation. Visual Studio 2012 is the suite that will boost your productivity to the max by augmenting your skills with powerful tools that will help you trace your way out of a development cycle labyrinth.
November 29th – Making Developers More Productive with Visual Studio Team Foundation Server, Presented by William Salazar
In this session, we will talk about those “fit-and-finish” scenarios in Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2012 which will make developers more productive as they write code and collaborate with other team members. You’ll find out about the new integrated code reviews; the new “My Work” experience for managing your active tasks; and once you’re “in the zone” Visual Studio will now help you stay focused on the task at hand, no matter how much you’re randomized, with a new suspend/resume experience. You’ll also find out how to work offline seamlessly, how the new merging experience works, and how you can more easily find work items.
My colleague (and ridiculously knowledgeable) Harold Wong will be hosting a Windows 8 / Windows Server 2012 Installfest in Denver next week. I highly encourage you to attend if you have an interest in getting a solid start on these platforms. In his own words:
“With the recent RTM of Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012, I am hearing a lot of interest from people who really want to start kicking the tires of these two new flagship products from Microsoft. If you are interested in getting an evaluation version of Windows 8 or Windows Server 2012 installed onto you machine to start playing with, I can help you. I will have bootable thumb drives with Windows 8 Enterprise 90-Day Eval (RTM) and Windows Server 2012 Evaluation (RTM). In addition, I will also provide VHD files that have Windows Server 2012 Evaluation and Windows 8 Enterprise RTM 90 Day Evaluation preinstalled so that we can configure your machine with Boot to VHD (no repartitioning required and keeps your existing OS intact). I will show you how to build your own VHDs so you are armed for the future.”
This is an informal event where you can come and go at any point during the event window.
To register, sign up here: http://hwdenverinstallfest2.eventbrite.com/# (The registration page also lists prerequisites for your laptop, as well as some other stuff to have ready/downloaded prior to arrival).
This event is also listed through the Colorado Microsoft Developers Meetup group here: http://www.meetup.com/ColoradoMicrosoftDevelopers/events/82056702/
UPDATE: I just posted the content for the Denver and Lehi roadshows. The link can be found on my previous post here. http://aka.ms/VS2012Roadshow
First of all, THANK YOU to everyone who attended the roadshow event yesterday in our office. We really appreciate your attendance, feedback and interaction!
As I mentioned yesterday, I’ll be posting all the content from the sessions to this blog…. just not quite yet. The exact same content is going to be delivered in a few additional cities over the next couple of weeks, so in order to not spoil it for others I’ll post the content publicly after a few more stops on this roadshow are complete.
That said, if you have a pressing need to get the content earlier, contact me directly (stevenl@microsoft.com) and we can work something out!
Thanks,
Steve