Visual Studio Scrum Template Released
Microsoft's new Scrum template for Team Foundation Server 2010 is now available for
download from the Visual Studio Gallery, following a 30-day sprint (weekends not included) after
the template was announced and released in beta at Tech Ed in June.
The Visual Studio Scrum v1.0 template (renamed since the Team Foundation Server Scrum v1.0 beta) differs from the Microsoft Solutions Framework for Agile Software Development 5.0 process template in TFS 2010, primarily in its use of standard Scrum terminology, reporting metrics and state transition models.
As reported earlier, the Scrum process template supports the new hierarchical work items in TFS 2010, which means it is not compatible with TFS 2008/2005. For now, the work items in the Scrum v1.0 template do not integrate with the Excel-based Product Backlog (prioritized list of required features) and Iteration Backlog workbooks, a popular new feature of the MSF Agile 5.0 template. Microsoft Technical Fellow Brian Harry, TFS product unit manager, blogged:
"We've…had a fair amount of requests for the Agile Project Management workbooks to support the Scrum Template. We were not able to get that in for this release but will investigate it for the next one."
According to Harry:
"Most of the changes since the Beta are pretty small. The biggest feedback we got was that people wanted some of the reports from the MSF Agile template to be included in the Scrum template."
Based on that feedback changes since the beta include the addition of four MSF Agile 5.0 Build/Test reports: Build Summary, Builds Success Over Time, Test Case Readiness and Test Plan Progress. The new report types join the three that surfaced in the beta: Release Burndown, Velocity and Sprint Burndown. Integration with SharePoint project portals is supported.
Microsoft Program Manager Aaron Bjork describes the other changes since the beta in v1.0 in his blog. Process guidance, as promised at Tech Ed, is now available on MSDN.
In lieu of the Excel-based planning workbooks, companies may want to check out Urban Turtle 3.2, a Scrum extension to TFS Team Web Access 2010 that supports drag-and-drop management of work items, and sprint and releasing planning. The Scrum Task Board, which has been updated to support Microsoft's new process template, is from Agile consulting firm Pyxis Technologies. Read a fun take on the company's story, "A Retrospective of 840 Sprints."
Urban Turtle gets a nod from Microsoft's Brian Harry, who said:
"I've played with pre-release versions of the Urban Turtle tool and I recommend it. It's a nice tool!"
Microsoft has clearly embraced Agile development and Scrum. Will Scrum work at larger organizations? Express your thoughts on adoption and what you'd like to see going forward. Drop me a line krichards@1105media.com.
Posted by Kathleen Richards on 07/20/2010 at 2:49 PM