Currently, the term "ALM" seems to refer to whatever the vendor of the toolset is trying to sell you :-)
When it comes to the complete lifecycle of the Application then I think Team Suite does have areas that need to be addressed. For example, while the core source control and work item tracking functionality inside TFS is very strong, there is a lack of decent requirements capturing tools at present. Third parties are fortunately addressing this space for the current releases but I think there is still much that could be done. Additionally (like you say), while the build story has got an awful lot better in 2008 - the deployment story could do with some additional tools. But if you were to take all the ALM tools in the market they all have strengths and weaknesses in different areas. All that said, I do feel that Team System certainly deserves to be in the "Application Lifecycle Management" category, it certainly helps you with your development process and features such as the reporting capabilities are pretty powerful. I also get the feeling that Microsoft are investing heavily in this space and while I can personally cost-justify the current versions of the Team System toolset based on the productivity savings it is delivering today I am also pretty confident that it is a good bet for the future. Regards, Martin. Martin Woodward. Senior Software Engineer, Microsoft MVP (Team System). Teamprise, a division of SourceGear LLC. US Phone: +1 217-531-7854 UK Phone: +44 (0)2894 335006 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Butcher, Justin Sent: 27 November 2007 06:48 To: [email protected] Subject: RE: [OzTFS] Printed TFS & ALM reference material. [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED] It TFS really an ALM product? I have described it that way myself many times, but TFS OOTB won't manage, or co-ordinate the configuration of deployments to dev, test or prod environments. So I'm tempted to say TFS isn't really interested in config management of the lifecycle - a better term would be Software Config Management (in the sense of Bryan White's seminal books where he coined that name). BTW I understand Brian was a key part of the product planning for TFS after leaving Rational / ClearCase around 2001. He was with MS from 2001 to 2003 (approx), not sure where he is now. I would love to see TFS extended to do ALM - the ability to promote code through the stages of the life-cycle, and store configuration (Work Item States/Statuses) against that. I know this could be done with Branches, and WIs can be customised, but I don't think the product lends itself well OOTB box. What do other people think? Maybe I have not understood the term ALM correctly. Justin. _____ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Grant Holliday Sent: Tuesday, 27 November 2007 13:09 To: [email protected] Subject: RE: [OzTFS] Printed TFS & ALM reference material. I highy recommend Sam Guckenheimer's Software Engineering with VSTS. I also recommend "The Build Master" book, although not TFS-specific, it includes a lot of relevant stuff around a good build system -----Original Message----- From: "Michael Fagan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> Sent: 27/11/07 12:01 Subject: [OzTFS] Printed TFS & ALM reference material. Hi, I'm reasonably new to TFS, and was wondering which TFS books people deem to be "must haves". Books discussing customisation and real-world usage of TFS would fit the bill. Also, do people have any favourite ALM resources? We are looking to completely revamp our internal development/project management processes and I'd like to read as much as I can before we start crafting our requirements. Thanks, Michael Fagan ([EMAIL PROTECTED] ) CSSP Pty Ltd 326-328 The Parade, Kensington, South Australia 5068 Phone: +61 8 8139 1921 Fax: +61 8 8364 1908 http://www.cssp.biz <http://www.cssp.biz/> Software for Construction and Engineering **************************************************************** IMPORTANT The information transmitted is for the use of the intended recipient only and may contain confidential and/or legally privileged material. Any review, re-transmission, disclosure dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon, this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited and may result in severe penalties. 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