Software Engineering with Microsoft Visual Studio Team System [Paperback]

Sam Guckenheimer (Author), Juan J. Perez (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0321278720 | ISBN-13: 978-0321278722 | Publication Date: May 19, 2006 | Edition: 1

Software Engineering with Microsoft Visual Studio Team System is written for a software team that is considering running a software project using Visual Studio Team System (VSTS). It is about the "why" of VSTS: its guiding ideas, why they are presented in certain ways, and how they fit into the process of managing the software lifecycle. This book is the next best thing to having an onsite coach who can lead the team through a consistent set of processes. It is a framework for thinking about software projects in a way that can be directly tooled by VSTS. It presents essential theory and practical examples to describe a realistic process for IT projects. This is a book that any team using or considering VSTS should read.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Software Engineering with Microsoft Visual Studio Team System is written for any software team that is considering running a software project using Visual Studio Team System (VSTS), or evaluating modern software development practices for its use.

 

It is about the value-up paradigm of software development, which forms the basis of VSTS: its guiding ideas, why they are presented in certain ways, and how they fit into the process of managing the software lifecycle. This book is the next best thing to having an onsite coach who can lead the team through a consistent set of processes.

 

Sam Guckenheimer has been the chief customer advocate for VSTS, responsible for its end-to-end external design. He has written this book as a framework for thinking about software projects in a way that can be directly tooled by VSTS. It presents essential theory and practical examples to describe a realistic process for IT projects.

 

Readers will learn what they need to know to get started with VSTS, including

• The role of the value-up paradigm (versus work-down) in the software development lifecycle, and the meanings and importance of “flow”
• The use of MSF for Agile Software Development and MSF for CMMI Process Improvement
• Work items for planning and managing backlog in VSTS
• Multidimensional, daily metrics to maintain project flow and enable estimation
• Creating requirements using personas and scenarios
• Project management with iterations, trustworthy transparency, and friction-free metrics
• Architectural design using a value-up view, service-oriented architecture, constraints, and qualities of service
• Development with unit tests, code coverage, profiling, and build automation
• Testing for customer value with scenarios, qualities of service, configurations, data, exploration, and metrics
• Effective bug reporting and bug assessment
• Troubleshooting a project: recognizing and correcting common pitfalls and antipatterns

This is a book that any team using or considering VSTS should read.

 

“This is first and foremost a book about software engineering. In discussing flash points such as planning, documentation, governance, auditability, and organization, Sam presents the case for both agile and more formal practices, as well as describing the optimal conditions for each. Even though the material is presented in the context of VSTS, the guidance is universal.”

–Dr. Bill Curtis

chief process officer, Borland Software Corporation

 

“Sam Guckenheimer ushers in the era of trustworthy transparency that will revolutionize the way we manage software development projects.”

–David J. Anderson

author of Agile Management for Software Engineering

 

“This book is an eye opener: a door to a new era of software engineering.”

–Francis T. Delgado

senior program manager, Avanade

 

 

About the Author

Sam Guckenheimer has 25 years of experience as architect, developer, tester, product manager, project manager, and general manager in the software industry in the U.S. and Europe. Currently, Sam is the group product planner for Microsoft Visual Studio Team System. In this capacity, he acts as chief customer advocate, responsible for the end-to-end external design of the next releases of these products. Prior to joining Microsoft in 2003, Sam was director of Product Line Strategy at Rational Software Corporation, now the Rational Division of IBM. He holds five patents on software lifecycle tools. A frequent speaker at industry conferences, Sam is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Harvard University. Sam lives in the Puget Sound area with his wife and three of his four children.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional; 1 edition (May 19, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0321278720
• ISBN-13: 978-0321278722
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,059,332 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great for managing projects -- not for implementing VSTS, May 29, 2006

By 

James Holmes "Co-Author 'Windows Developer Po... (South Central Ohio) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Software Engineering with Microsoft Visual Studio Team System (Paperback)

This book isn't about implementing Visual Studio Team Systems, so don't expect details on setting up, configuring, or making use of VSTS in a daily work environment. What this book really covers is the high-level use of project data, reports and features in VSTS. The author himself says this is intended as a general book on software engineering practices, touching on how to use VSTS to get engineering done well. You'll have to look elsewhere for the nitty-gritty details on actually rolling VSTS into your organization's development environment

What you will find in this book are some well-written, well-thought guidelines on how to approach various aspects of the software development process. Frequently those guidelines will involve using products or features from VSTS, and the book does some nice analysis using those products.

Specifics which I found very good in the book included the great sidebars, the section on using coverage reports for development feedback, and the troubleshooting section. For example, some sidebars show you the specific MSDN heirarchy for finding specific documentation on an aspect of VSTS, helpful for that actual implementation stuff. (That's assuming Microsoft doesn't completely re-arrange MSDN's content structure as they seem wont to do with alarming frequency.) The portion on coverage feedback is great for developers understanding why coverage might change in unexpected fashions as they're moving through their work.

The troubleshooting chapter is seriously good stuff. Guckenheimer does a great job of tossing up many graphs with different data and showing how to interpret them. He shows how graph states might reflect problems on the project with scope creep, architectural mistakes, or various issues with defects such as reactivations or poor unit testing.

The book is definitely not for developers looking to learn more about VSTS, but rather for management and leads looking to understand how VSTS can help them effectively manage their projects will get a whole lot of use from the book.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The First VSTS Book You Should Read, August 30, 2006

By 

Seth M. Livingston "Director of Learning, Adv... (Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Software Engineering with Microsoft Visual Studio Team System (Paperback)

This book is a terrific high to mid level introduction to Visual Studio Team System, Microsoft Solutions Framework, and the overall philosophies and strategies behind Microsoft's ambitious undertaking. It provides terrific VSTS coverage, but it's also one the best overviews of modern software development approaches available today.

It's required reading for our instructors and mentors, and I recommend it to every one of our class and workshop participants.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly Recommended, August 9, 2006

By 

Jason D. Camp (Cherry Hill, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Software Engineering with Microsoft Visual Studio Team System (Paperback)

Gives a nice peek into the "why" as opposed to the "how". I have read all the VSTS books that are out there right now and I appriciated this one very much. It was an easy read, but very informative.