LET ’ S FACE IT: Shipping great software is diffi cult. Is it rewarding? Yes. Is it profi table? Yes. Does it
mix art and engineering? Yes. Is it easy? No.
Yet some companies and organizations do ship great software. They deliver products that their
customers love. They do it on time and on budget. They deliver solutions and services that are
highly valued in the marketplace. So how do they do it?
The answer is deceptively simple: They rely on a combination of technology, talent, and process.
Each of these three elements is necessary, but each by itself is insuffi cient to deliver a great product.
If you ’ re missing one element, you will certainly fail. If you have all three, then you have the
necessary raw ingredients to succeed.
This book focuses on one element of shipping great software: the process. It offers a road map for
how to use Scrum to organize teams and activities. It shows you how to use Visual Studio Team
Foundation Server (TFS) to execute a Scrum project — from planning the sprints to tracking
progress. By focusing on just this one ingredient in successful software, this book provides the
details you need.
In this book, you ’ ll learn best practices for running a Scrum project and for using TFS. The book
even includes templates to help you get started. Even with all this help, you will still face diffi cult
questions for which there is no standard answers. You ’ ll need to rely on your insight and experience.
This book is a collaborative effort of three authors with three distinct perspectives. We believe that
by offering multiple views, we ’ ll better prepare you to navigate the unique situations that you ’ ll
undoubtedly face. Each of us has years of experience with Scrum and project management. We ’ ve
each shipped successful products, and we all write from experience.
It is our hope that our experience in software project management can accelerate you on your path
to shipping great software with Scrum and TFS.