MSF for Agile Software Development v5.0

Your team can apply agile practices more easily by using the process template for MSF for Agile Software Development v5.0 with Visual Studio Application Lifecycle Management (ALM). The template and this guidance will help you practice Scrum and apply agile engineering practices. These processes and practices come from Scrum, eXtreme Programming, and other agile methodologies, as Agile Principles and Values, by Jeff Sutherland describes.

Scrum

Scrum: Scrum is a framework for managing complex product and system development that is consistent with the agile principles and values. These processes help your team organize itself to deliver more value to your customers faster.

Scrum

Engineering practices: Your team can also use proven techniques to design, develop, test, and deliver code. These practices help increase the velocity at which your team delivers value to your customers.

Engineering Practices

Artifacts: Your team can run its Scrum processes with less effort by using the artifacts from MSF for Agile Software Development v5.0. Each artifact serves a specific function and provides opportunities to refine your processes over time. For example, you can describe what your customers need and value in the product backlog workbook.

Artifacts (Agile)

Roles: Scrum defines three roles. Most individuals perform the team role, which is responsible for creating and finishing the software. In addition, your product owner represents your customers, and your scrummaster helps your team and your product owner follow Scrum processes effectively.

Roles

Meetings: When your team practices Scrum, it will hold a set of meetings. Each meeting has a specific purpose, occurs at a defined frequency, and is time-boxed. For example, the team defines what user stories it will deliver in the sprint at the sprint planning meeting. This meeting occurs at the start of a sprint and should run for two to four hours, depending on the length of the sprint.

Meetings (Agile)

This guidance was developed in partnership with Jeff Sutherland, Ken Schwaber, Mitch Lacey, and Juan Perez. For more information, see the following Web resources: Jeff Sutherland, Ken Schwaber, Mitch Lacey, and Juan J. Perez.

Additional Resources

Planning and Tracking Projects

Tracking Bugs, Tasks, and Other Work Items

Tracking Bugs, Tasks, and Other Work Items

Adding and Modifying Bugs, Tasks, and Other Work Items

Choosing Link Types to Effectively Track Your Project

Creating Relationships Between Work Items and Other Resources

Customizing Team Projects and Processes

Choose a Process Template

Customizable Process Guidance - MSF for Agile Software Development v5.0 on the Microsoft website.

Printable Process Guidance for MSF for Agile Software Development v5.0 (blog post)