Development Matters Blog

The Merit Solutions Development Team uses the Microsoft Visual Studio Scrum 1.0 template for TFS and it has proven to be a great improvement in leading projects based on the scrum methodology. Its usage makes tracking project progress easier and also gives our team a great opportunity to have all project related documentation in one place, easily reachable and editable by all team members.

The ease of using it and opportunities it provides has been received with very positive feedback by our team members. In fact, it has started to be used for non-scrum projects also, which in turn developed the need for improving existing templates and creating more suitable ones.

There are two ways for customizing a TFS Template. The first one is based on changing the XML code directly and the second one allows us to simplify that process by using Team Foundation Server Power Tools.

The whole process of customization is automated and consists of downloading the template, editing it by directly modifying the interface and uploading a new template version on the TFS server. The most important thing is to predict all things needed for a project and include them in a template, as the template is chosen at the project creation and cannot be changed or modified later on.

Customizing a template is very simple. The user does not have to work with xml code anymore. With this tool, the template interface can be modified directly by adding or deleting text properties or tabs to already existing backlog items, adding new item types, new drop-down fields and relations, linking new and already existing product backlog items or directly changing the layout by moving and positioning controls in proper groups or columns.  This tool also gives an opportunity to adopt already existing terminology for states and processes to the terminology familiar to the team which uses it.

This is a link for downloading Team Foundation Server Power Tools.

To start learning the sample rules for editing the template, here is a very useful blog article.

Recently, the Merit Solutions’ Development Team has been using the Microsoft Visual Studio Scrum 1.0 template for TFS and it has proven to be a great improvement in leading a project based on the scrum methodology.

Artifacts from Microsoft Visual Studio Scrum 1.0 include work items, reports, and team queries, so the team can use them to track information, analyze progress, and make decisions.

This way all team members can easily track and update the project status. They can also be updated about all changes made and about progress of the other team members. Through the big range of work items, the team is allowed to track, monitor, and report the development progress of a product and its features.

All the artifacts can be accessed either from the team project node in Team Explorer or on the team project portal. 

The other benefit is the big range of reports which offers a capability to monitor team progress and velocity during the whole project. This is a great way to track how quickly the team has completed work or how much work remains in a product backlog or in a sprint backlog. It can also predict how much backlog effort your team can exert in future sprints if the team composition and sprint duration stay constant.

Using the Microsoft Visual Studio Scrum 1.0 template make tracking project progress easier and also gives our team a great opportunity to improve leading projects in future and predict the possible problems.

More info about Scrum 1.0 template for TFS can be found on MSDN.

Scrum Methodology is a very powerful asset to the Agile project management paradigm. Merit Solutions has recognized it as a very valuable skill that can bring even more professionalism and competitiveness among our team. Our developers, consultants, as well as the members of the management team have intensively invested in its embracement and effective enforcement.

To be able to thoroughly understand and grasp the full potential behind it, both basic concept courses as well as the advanced ones were required. We have attended a number of trainings that dealt with the Scrum Methodology. They helped us better understand and utilize the purpose of the methodology and how to put its theoretical layout to practice.

And indeed, it did. We at Merit Solutions are now proud to say that the depth of involvement and the commitment of our team are on are ever growing – and much of it we owe to the power of Scrum Methodology.

View some photos from the most recent Merit Solutions Scrum Training.