Team Foundation Server - What Process Template is for me?

Question

I finally was able to complete the installation of TFS and started the creation of my first team project which introduced me to the process template.

After following to the link to Microsoft's site for process template information I was inundated with new information to consider. What templates have all of you had experience with that either worked out very well for you or were more of a stumbling block to the project? What were the biggest advantages and disadvantages you've encountered?

Some information about my project, I'm the lead developer for a small company and will be using TFS/VSTS to create an intranet portal to consolidate the end users day to day and increase automation to enhance productivity etc. It's entirely new development taking advantage of C#, ASP.NET and SQL Server 2008.

Ideally I'd like to take advantage of features to enhance collaboration with the stake holders to help add desired features and to track the status of development and offer feedback etc. I was also looking to take advantage of JetBrain's TeamCity for my TFS so if any specific template / software really adds cohesion between TFS, TeamCity, Developers, and Stakeholders that would be ideally what I'm interested in.

Answer 1

Are you already using a software development process like scrum? If yes you can try this Team Process Template over here.

How large is your project team and the project? Microsoft has published one of it's internal Process Templates (MPT) over here. You can get some guidiance and inspiration from this template.

As tangurena mentioned. People use the standard templates, change the bug a bit and store some documents there. I would recommend to keep the process 'light' as well.

However the process template isn't all.

Here are some ideas what I would do (in your case):

• Create some high order workitems (features/stories) which stakeholdes can create (constraints and TFS user groups are your friend). They can then access their requested features via the TFS Work Item Web Access. That way you don't need a CAL for them

• Create some reports which show planned work accodring to releases.

• Setup the build automation and create Reports (a.k.a. Release Notes) from your workitems according to the builds.

What were the biggest advantages and disadvantages you've encountered?

Imho the biggest disadvantage is that you start believing that the template is your silver bullet. It's not, it's your starting point. The TFS ecosystem offers you alot opportunities to create own bits of software that fit your needs. Just check out the TFS API.