Review - Professional Application Lifecycle Management with Visual Studio 2012

If you have to start approaching the Application Lifecycle Management, this is going to be your bible.

Written by Mickey Gousset (Visual Studio ALM MVP), Brian Keller (Microsoft Senior Developer Evangelist ), Martin Woodward (Microsoft Program Manager for Team Foundation Server) the book starts with a six-chapters-long introduction to Team Foundation Server, describing in detail what’s this mystical object and how it can be useful for us That’s different from the 2010 version, but I really like it because it enables the reader to fully understand the platform, instead on focusing on a series of tools and practices. It’s detailed but introductive, perfect for the target audience.

After that, it describes how to gather feedbacks from stakeholders, and how to let them participate in the requirements management phase.

The Project Management section is comprehensive, rounding from Work Items to Dashboards, describing all the tools involved in a complete ALM process. It’s not just about the tools and how to use them, several pages are dedicated to process and methodologies, making it a manual in the manual for Project Management with Team Foundation Server.

After these first three parts, the following are more code-focused: Architecture, Software Development and Testing. They fully cover the new features but always with the process companion. Really useful for both novice and experienced people who might want to have a reference.

Despite it has the same title of the 2010 version, several parts have been redone both after feedbacks and to have a different approach. I really liked this book, it’s a must-have for everyone.