Upgrade your server to Windows Server 2012 R2 Update 1
With the release of Windows Server 2012 R2 Update 2 I wanted to make sure that all of my demo machines are up to date. I have a Domain Controller and a TFS server that are separate boxes but which are both running Windows Server 2012 R2.
Should I upgrade to TFS 2013 Update 2?
With the launch at Build of Team Foundation Server 2013 Update 2 I wanted to make sure that the update goes seamlessly. So I am upgrading my demo box to both Windows Server 2012 R2 Update 1 and Team Foundation Server 2013 Update 2.
What my father taught me about Evidence-based Management (34 years before it was invented!)
A few weeks ago I headed out to the Scrum.org offices in Boston to participate in training to hone my skills as an Evidence-based Management Consultant. I was talking to my father about it when I got back and was surprised that he recognised many of the practices and tools.
TFS for cross team and cross business line work item tracking
I was asked by current customer to come up with a solution, within TFS, to allow an entire division to work together in delivering software for a bank. This divisions made up of over 10 teams than work on many pieces of software. Some have simple requirements while others require harsh security and compliance. This is a standard problem and not unique to this company, however the perception still prevails with both TFS users and administrators, that one must have a single Team Project for each [Project | Team | Product] under way. This perception is not only incorrect but Team Foundation Server was designed to be used differently. The Developer Division (DevDiv) at Microsoft, who built the product, uses a single 20+ terabyte Team Project for their Work Items, Source Code and Builds for over 2k people. Team Foundation Server was designed and built to be used with fewer large Team Projects rather than many small Team Projects.
Metrics that matter with evidence-based management
I was recently asked to speak at ALM Days in Dusseldorf and more specifically to create a talk on Metrics and KPI’s for Quality. As I have been working a lot recently with evidence-based management. I am pretty sure that my session title translates as “Test management and reporting – KIP’s for better decisions” so I am going to concentrate on reporting and KPI’s as the session before mine is on Agile Testing.
Team Foundation server 2013 Update 2 RC is coming, are you ready?
While naked ALM Consulting can help you install and configure TFS you may want to take advantage of the upcoming TFS Upgrade Weekend from Microsoft for free. Just as with the TFS 2013 Preview Microsoft is putting its money where its mouth is and setting up a raft of experts that will be on hand to help you upgrade to TFS 2013 Update 2 RC. They are so confident that you will not have any problems that on Friday 28th February and Saturday 1st March they will have experts standing by to support you. All they ask is that you register for the http://nkdalm.net/TFS13U2UpgradeWeekend so that they know how many folks are taking advantage… you know… just in case.
Building a release pipeline with Release Management with Visual Studio 2013
With the release of Visual Studio 2013 we now have release management built right into the product that we can use to build a scalable release pipeline. It’s not perfect but it does hit the spot.
Install Release Management 2013
Just recently I have been doing a lot of work in Release Management 2013 and noticed the lack of documentation. I have done a number of installs and documented them is posts like Installing Release Management Client for Visual Studio 2013 and Installing Release Management Server for TFS 2013 however there is always things that don’t quite join up. I often have to head off an fix problems or get support as part of my posts an while I almost always blog those issues there is no joined up experience.
Installing Release Management Server for TFS 2013
Unless you have been living under a rock you might have noticed that Microsoft has added a Release Management tool to its Visual Studio product line. I have been playing with it for a while now and I think I have it figured out. However as this is a new addition to the product it is extremely poorly documented.
Execute Tests with Release Management for Visual Studio 2013
Last week I was onsite with a customer who was trying to do automated release and test with Lab Management. I showed him a better way by execute Tests with Release Management for Visual Studio 2013.
