A common question that I get is "What has changed in the latest version of MSF for Agile Software Development?" There are two reasons that this question is asked. First, people want to know why they should update their projects and secondly, they want to know what files have changed. This blog entry will attempt to answer both questions.

To start, we have tried to clarify a number of the concepts that were being misconstrued by poor wording or organization of the content. These concepts include the role of the Project Manager in iteration planning (they are a facilitator) and the use of Test Driven Development (earlier versions slated this as optional).

As for which files have change, the answer is all of them have. However, only a dozen or so have changed in a meaningful way. The rest have the new copyright and release information. Choose from the list below based upon you needs. I recommend adding files for the Plan an Iteration Collaboration. Check out the files from your project portal and replace them with these new ones.

Plan an Iteration Collaboration

architect.htm (clarified collaboration on plan an iteration workstream)

architect_plananiteration.htm (new file - clarified collaboration on plan an iteration workstream)

architect_showall.htm (clarified collaboration on plan an iteration workstream)

businessanalyst.htm (clarified collaboration on plan an iteration workstream)

businessanalyst_plananiteration.htm (new file - clarified collaboration on plan an iteration workstream)

businessanalyst_showall.htm (clarified collaboration on plan an iteration workstream)

developer.htm (clarified collaboration on plan an iteration workstream)

developer_plananiteration.htm (new file - clarified collaboration on plan an iteration workstream)

developer_showall.htm (clarified collaboration on plan an iteration workstream)

dividequalityofservicerequirementsintotasks.htm (clarified how the division gets done)

dividescenariosintotasks.htm (clarified how the division gets done)

plananiteration.htm (new collaborations)

tester.htm (clarified collaboration on plan an iteration workstream)

tester_plananiteration.htm (new file - clarified collaboration on plan an iteration workstream)

tester_showall.htm (clarified collaboration on plan an iteration workstream)

workstreamsindex.htm

Test Driven Development

fixabug.htm

Broken Link Fixes

brainstormqualityofservicerequirements.htm (fixed broken link to ‘howto’)

brainstormscenarios.htm (fixed broken link to ‘howto’)

buildaproduct.htm (fixed broken link to ‘Team Build’)

closeabug.htm (removed extraneous links)

createorupdateunittest.htm (add link to TDD information)

developlefestylesnapshot.htm (fixed broken link to ‘howto’)

fixabuild.htm (fixed broken link to team build)

mitigatearisk.htm (removed link to MSF home page)

qualityofservicerequirementlist.htm (fixed broken link to actual work products)

reviewobjectives.htm (fixed broken link to scenario list)

scenariolist.htm (fixed broken link to actual work products)

selectandrunatestcase.htm (added link to test case management)

startabuild.htm (fixed a broken link to help system)

testaqualityofservicerequirement.htm (added link to test case management)

testascenario.htm (added link to test case management)

Added Queries

cycles_dailybuild.htm (added queries for this area)

cycles_iteration.htm (added queries for this area)

projectmanager_guideiteration.htm (added queries for this area)

projectmanager_plananiteration.htm (added queries for this area)

projectmanager_showall.htm (added queries for this area)

tracks_build.htm (added queries for this area)

Additions to the glossary

glossary.htm

New Mindsets

mindsets.htm

principles.htm

teammodel.htm