Today the Visual Studio ALM Rangers published more solid guidance. This time it was around a favorite topic of mine – Visual Studio database projects.

This guidance focuses on 5 areas:

• Solution and Project Management
• Source Code Control and Configuration Management
• Integrating External Changes with the Project System
• Build and Deployment Automation with Visual Studio Database Projects
• Database Testing and Deployment Verification

This release includes common guidance, usage scenarios, hands on labs, and lessons learned from real world engagements and the community discussions.

Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Lab Management is now available. This is great news. Also, Microsoft is including it at no additional charge to customers who have Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate with MSDN or Visual Studio Test Professional 2010 with MSDN. This is awesome news because they were going to price it per CPU.

Here are some useful links:

· Visual Studio Lab Management Information
· Visual Studio Lab Management Trial and Instructions
· Visual Studio Lab Management Setup Videos
· Microsoft Virtualization VHD Test Drive Program and VHD Download
· Visual Studio Lab Management’s Team Blog and Getting Started Guide
· System Center Virtual Machine Manager Blog and Installation Guide

Rich has been busy this week, and was on Dot Net Rocks (for the first time !).

http://www.dotnetrocks.com/default.aspx?showNum=585

A great discussion of Scrum, Agile and VS2010, and how it plugs in to professional Scrum developer program.

It all started with Martin Fowler’s comment about flaccid scrum (http://martinfowler.com/bliki/FlaccidScrum.html), the PSD program helps folk sharpen up their scrum game to combat this.

Thank you for attending part 2 of our Managing Projects using Microsoft Visual Studio Scrum 1.0 webcast today. Here are some links and resources that I promised.

Presentation

• Managing projects using Microsoft Visual Studio Scrum 1.0 (part 2)

Bookmarks

• Urban Turtle Software

Demo Files

• Sample product backlog and shortcut batch file

Be sure to check back in a few days for the LiveMeeting recording. We’ll post it on our blog.

UPDATE: The LiveMeeting recording has been posted on Channel 9 .

Thank you for attending the webcast today. Here are some links and resources that I promised.

Presentation

• Managing projects using Microsoft Visual Studio Scrum 1.0 (part 1)

Bookmarks

• MSDN Process Templates and Tools
• Microsoft Visual Studio Scrum 1.0 (Download)
• Microsoft Visual Studio Scrum 1.0 (Guidance)
• Professional Scrum Developer Program
• Scrum.org

Installation

• .bat file for deploying the VS Scrum 1.0 SharePoint template

Learning Team Foundation Server

• First, download either the Trial or the Virtual Machine of TFS 2010
• Learn how TFS can help plan and track projects
• Learn how TFS manages the development process
• Watch the various How Do I videos (most are on 2008 version but still work)
• Read the Professional Application Lifecycle Management with Visual Studio 2010 book
• Follow the various Visual Studio ALM blogs on our community page

Be sure to check back in a few days for the LiveMeeting recording. We’ll post it on our blog.

Next week, Rich is hosting two webcasts on “Managing projects using Microsoft Visual Studio Scrum 1.0”.

Part 1 is on Tuesday 12pm MST

https://www.clicktoattend.com/invitation.aspx?code=149942

Part 2 is on Thursday 12pm MST

https://www.clicktoattend.com/invitation.aspx?code=149944

Hope to see you there!

Accentient is pleased to announce that we are officially a friend of the Urban Turtle.

Accentient is both an Urban Turtle “Select Partner”, which is a highly recognized and trusted organization that can provide you with various services to make you successful with Scrum TFS and Urban Turtle as well as a Professional Scrum Developer (PSD) Select Partner who has demonstrated unique value in delivering the PSD course.

Urban Turtle is an intuitive Scrum tool for TFS built to simplify your software development cycles. It was built by experienced Scrum coaches and practitioners, Urban Turtle helps you deliver kick-ass software sustainably, every iteration.

Yesterday at the VSLive! keynote, Microsoft announced that Lab Management will be generally available at the end of August. Also, it will not be sold as a separate product, but instead will be available to Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate with MSDN and Visual Studio Test Professional with MSDN subscribers.

This announcement further proves that Microsoft remains committed to enabling developers of all skill levels and organizational sizes to easily build business applications that target the desktop, cloud and Web. Lab Management provides an integrated platform for managing your virtual testing environments, which drives greater efficiencies and cost savings by automating workflow, utilizing Hyper-V and System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM). It is essentially a “private cloud” solution that enables teams to quickly provision virtual environments. These environments enable organizations to easily develop and test against a predictable base state, lowering the risk associated with software development due to unpredictable build processes and test environments.

Download the trial software or a VHD Test Drive today.

Thanks to the folk who made it to the VBUG meeting. It was great to talk about Scrum and VS2010.

Also, here is the link to the download of the Microsoft VM with 2010 all loaded and the excellent labs as well.

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/briankel/archive/2010/06/25/now-available-visual-studio-2010-rtm-virtual-machine-with-sample-data-and-hands-on-labs.aspx

I am really looking forward to going to the Bracknell VBUG group to talk about Scrum and VS2010 on July 7. It should be a great evening. http://www.vbug.co.uk/Events/July-2010/VBUG-Bracknell-SCRUM.aspx

I am a huge fan of both Rugby Union and the Scrum methodology. When I first heard of the framework there was a sense of wonderment at the use of the rugby term to describe the development framework.

For those folk who are not too familiar with the rugby version, this is a short video of just scrums.

From this, you see some scrums that go bad - (collapses,  going backwards), and some solid scrums.

For a scrum to work in either sense the following must be in place:

Cohesive Team – the tight 5 (front row and second row) must work as a cohesive unit for the scrum to go anywhere. Without great collaboration, the scrum goes nowhere. In much the same way a fragmented scrum team will not realise the hyper productivity that is the sweet spot. It should be fun, while being some of the hardest graft you have ever done. At the end you must be able to reflect with pride on the work that you have done.

Commitment – If you don’t commit, you will fail. In the rugby scrum it is the initial contact (the engage) that determines whether the scrum will collapse or settle. If either side does not completely commit, the scrum will collapse. If you are on a team where there is not a common level of commitment, the sprint will not go as well as you plan. The reliance on your fellow team members must be there. This trust takes time to develop, and where altering the team will affect the teams velocity.

Balance of Skills – The rugby scrum uses some of the most specialised positions on the pitch, and you need the selection right to be able to scrummage effectively, In the same way you need the right skill mix in the scrum team. There are no silos any more – you need to get to done. so you need people with the skills to design, build, test, package, deploy and document the incremental release. You can’t go in to a rugby scrum with the hooker, thinking you will sort that out after the scrum – you will have lost by then. Similarly you can’t go in to a sprint with the assumption that the testing will be completed later – you won’t get to done.

Focus and Intent – In both the game and the framework you need to have a clear goal and the intent to achieve it. In the rugby scrum a lack of intent will result in a collapse or similar. Watch at 1:08 where the opposition prop is “popped” out of the scrum allowing the wallabies to drive through. In the framework world, a lack of focus and intent will stop either getting anything done, or not clearing the PBI.

Communication – This is the key to effective teamwork, and the heart of the framework and the game. Where are you at, what are you going to do next and what is stopping you? The daily scrum is critical to keep the team focussed, in the same way the calls in the scrum keep the forwards working as unit.

Crouch – Touch – Pause – ENGAGE!