Planet SCM

Last year I presented on Team Based Development at TechEd - I found a link to the recorded presentation today.  You will be prompted to download the video.

The Team System Process Template Editor is a tool I kicked-off that helped with the creation and maintenance of Team System Process Template definitions as well as work item defintions. 

I'm very excited to announce that this tool is now part of the Team Foundation Power Tool Pack and can be downloaded here (http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/aa718351.aspx).  

Enjoy!!

Check out this article by Nigel Cheshire - quoting both Sam Guckenheimer and Joel Spolsky about whether or not measuring developer performance is a good thing or not.  Both Sam and Joel say to stay clear away from doing this.  Where do you stand?  Personally, I say that we need to "professionalize" our industry a bit more before we can be effective at doing this.  Tools like Team System make instrumentation of developers a lot easier, however I don't think we can clearly understand the inter-relationship of metrics on individual developers well enough yet.  Nigel compares Sales people to Developers in this respect - asking why we can ask Sales people to hit metrics and not ask Developers to do the same.

 I think we'll be there one day - however, I think the real way to measure developers is how they interact as a team - and from that measure the team by the results of that team - in this case the software they develop.  Our industry needs to has a lot more maturing to do before we should focus on individual developer metrics, as there are likely hundreds of other aspects organizations can improve upon first that have greater value. 

http://au.sys-con.com/read/325131.htm

Very good article - http://www.seapine.com/pub/papers/SCMBranchingMode...

Just FYI - you can listen to me on DotNetRocks on September 12th talking all about Microsoft Team Foundation Server - whats coming.. some of my opinions and experiences.. all good.

September 12 also happens to be my birthday as well - double goodness!

www.dotnetrocks.com

Very Cool - the Process Template Editor is on the main page of GotDotNet.com...

Here is a link to a VSTS plugin that allows you to use CCNET with Team System.

http://vstsplugins.sourceforge.net/index.php/archives/news/2006/11

Want to store your SQL stuff in Team System's version control system?  On April 3rd you should be able to grab the TFS MSSCCI Provider. 

Buck tells all..

Remember, this tool won't be supported - so you should likely have a plan "B" kicking around somewhere.

http://scrumforteamsystem.com

It's simple.  It's Elegant.  It works!

Rock on Conchango - Rock on!!!!!!

At the same time you should likely read: Agile Project Management with Scrum

One of my all time favorite software development lifecycle patterns is Scrum.  It's simple.  It's proven.  Period.  If you don't already know this, Conchango has developed a SCRUM Team System process template for Team System.    Scrum for Team System: Beta 3 is now available if you are registered on their beta program.  I'm going to install the latest version for VSTS RC tonight to see the new features and reports.  I recommend that you take a serious look at this as well.

Learn more here:
http://blogs.conchango.com/howardvanrooijen/archive/2006/03/06/3038.aspx
http://scrumforteamsystem.com/resources/SCRUM White Paper.pdf

http://paltman.com/archive/2006/01/24/CustomizingTeamFoundationServerProcessGuidanceTemplates.aspx

 This also includes good docmentation of the tool - something that we lack. Thanks Pat.

Amazing one stop shop for amazing information…
http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/teamsystem/reference/technotes/

So, you'll never have to take my word for it again.

No problem...

1.  Turn on Code Coverage in your app
2.  Launch the Manual Test from the Test Manager
3   Use the Windows Explorer to find the target app and run it manually
       eg.  If you build to Math\bin\debug\math.exe - launch manually from this location
4.  Follow the instructions in the manual test - pass or fail it
5.  Shut down the app
6.  View code coverage results

November release of the Process Template Editor - bottom line, lots of changes and bug fixes.

Location:
http://www.imaginets.com/Default.aspx?tabid=133


Fixes:
Icons for All Windows
"for" and "not" should be renamed
Areas and Iterations Map to Definitions
Duplicate Names
Bottom half of Groups and Permissions doesn't seem to be working
KABOOM: Creating New Item in a Document Library
Change the Infragistics Controls
Drop Down for Title field
Areas and Iterations to display hierarchy
Work Item Rendeing seems off
States and Transitions Fix
Editing Layout
Reportable Fields Fix
Permissions KABOOM
Clicked on New button
New Document Library doesn't work
Right Click on existing library
Able to change extension...
Adding new report should allow me to select a existing report file
No minimum size on the work item type window
Sizing Work Item Dialog does not size controls
Adding New Transition does not allow for a reason
Able to Add a State that Transitions to itself
Work Item Type validation rules should not only be a function of the GUI
No minimum size for main MDI window
Online Global List saving should have a timer mouse icon
Tree Navigation for entire application

Using Team Build to Build an ASP.NET Web Site

So – you’re a web guy – good for you! – no – really – I mean it.  You like ASP.NET – Excellent.  You heard about this Team System hubbub and think to yourself “nice…” and dive into the automated build world that is provided with Team Foundation Server.  You follow the rules by creating a Solution Structure that contains a web site – you add it to Team System’s rocking new source code repository and jump into the Team Build Wizard to go and create a new automated build (after you install Team Build on a separate computer of course).  You run through the create build definition wizard – and you can literally hear the villagers dancing in the streets!  You go and kick off the build through the Visual Studio Team Explorer – and… it doesn’t work.

Bugger.

Very common problem apparently.  First of all, check out the properties of your solution file…specifically Configuration Properties->Configuration.  Here you will see a list of your projects, their configurations and platform.  Notice how your web app’s platform is .NET.  Hmm… did you even see that option when setting up the automated build?  Nope – ya didn’t.  You only had the ability to select Debug and Release and to select from a platform list that included the Itanium, but not .NET.

So, is there a solution?  Sure… I guess.  What I’ve done to fix the problem is to remove the following section(s) from the TFSBuild.proj file that essentially helps to define the Build definition (this is stored in source control under “Team Build Types\><NAMEOFYOURBUILD>” in case you were wondering).

    <ConfigurationToBuild Include="Debug|Any CPU">

      <FlavorToBuild>Debug</FlavorToBuild>

      <PlatformToBuild>Any CPU</PlatformToBuild>

    </ConfigurationToBuild>

This will force the Mr. Big Build to use the configuration defined in the solution file.  You can alternatively change that section to the following:

    <ConfigurationToBuild Include="Debug|Any CPU">

      <FlavorToBuild>Debug</FlavorToBuild>

      <PlatformToBuild>.NET</PlatformToBuild>

    </ConfigurationToBuild>

So, this get’s better – suppose you have a solution that has a web site as well as a bunch of libraries.  Well, in this case you have a mixed set of configurations and platform targets don’t ya…

Try this:

    <ConfigurationToBuild Include="Debug|Mixed Platforms">

      <FlavorToBuild>Debug</FlavorToBuild>

      <PlatformToBuild>Mixed Platforms</PlatformToBuild>

    </ConfigurationToBuild>

In truth, these options should appear in the Team Build creation wizard.. but for some reason that’s not always the case.  Also, don’t discount the importance of the solution structure and your web site – you need to ensure your website is contained within the solution structure.

Here is the latest release. What's changed? Well, we ripped out all of the Infragistics controls for one. We've also added lots more validation (when online) as well as user interface enhancements to help prevent you doing crazy things that is allowed in the resulting XML but you would never want to do in real life. We've also added Global List support. Our next release is next week where we will be rounding out more corners specifically around Global List support as well as Work Item Type field level support (not to mention making it look nicer - adding the missing Menu features, etc). You can get it from the GDN Workspace or from our web site... http://www.gotdotnet.com/workspaces/releases/viewuploads.aspx?id=812a68af-5e74-48c6-9623-1a4469142a84 http://www.imaginets.com/Default.aspx?tabid=133 Note, I have completely opened up membership to the GDN Workspace... I kept running out of memberships to give out...