geekSpeak recording - VSTS with Anton Delsink

This geekSpeak, recorded on Wednesday, August 8 (with host Lynn Langit and guest host Mithun Dhar), features Anton Delsink sharing a great overview of Visual Studio Team System. Anton, who is new to Microsoft, is based in Dubai. Prior to working for Microsoft he implemented VSTS solutions for customers.

Anton introduces us to VSTS and helps clear up any confusion over names and what tools are included in each edition. Anton enlightens us on the openness of VSTS for third party add-in tools.

Anton highlights how people in various roles in a project can use the system, from architects to devs, testers to project managers, and how they can work from their area of comfort, be it Visual Studio, Excel or even their browser. He also shows us how the reporting aspect is really SQL Server Reporting Services at heart, so you can report on quality indicators.

A lot of the conversation is centered around how using VSTS can help you support a software development process you've adopted, and how guidance for adopting an agile development approach with MSF is included. There's some good discussion here around how process is about behavior, and how VSTS helps you manage the behavior that you are trying to keep track of, and that things like work item tracking and reporting are very customizable.

We finish up the geekSpeak with some talk around offline usage of the source code management aspect of Team System, and Anton's top 5 tips for implementing VSTS in a production environment.

For the resources mentioned during the geekSpeak, visit the geekSpeak blog.