VSTS / TFS Best Practices

This evening I delivered an internal presentation for Compuware Belgium about VSTS / TFS Best Practices. Practically all .NET people at Compuware are nowadays working with Visual Studio Team System and Team Foundation Server (2005/2008 release).

IMHO it's currently the best solution to deliver quality enterprise software in a controlled way. Whether you are a 5 person enterprise or a 1000 person enterprise, Team Foundation Server can help by making collaboration and communication easier than ever. You need good people in a software development team, but you also need the right tools and processes in place for your people to do their best work. That’s where Microsoft Visual Studio Team System comes into play. It’s an integrated Application lifecycle Management (ALM) solution comprising tools, processes, and guidance to help everyone on the team improve their skills and work more effectively together.

• If you are working on your own, or as part of a small team (5-person or less), than Team Foundation Server Workgroup Edition may be the right choice for you. Note that Team Foundation Server Workgroup Edition is included free of charge when you purchase any of the Visual Studio Team Edition. The only limitation is that Team Foundation Server Workgroup Edition is limited to 5 members.
• Teams who number from 5 to 3500 are best served by the full Team Foundation Server product.

In a number of upcoming posts I would like to share some best practices about using Visual Studio Team System and Team Foundation Server. Tips & tricks to make us more productive is what we all want not? Team System can be used out-of-the-box, but the product cries for customization and that's where we all need some guidance. We should adopt Team System to fit into our process and not the other way around!

So, stay tuned for more! And if you would still wonder - a confession to make : yes, I love this product!