...unless you are willing to learn to work in new ways.
I think the true value of Visual Studio Team System is embraced by people that are already doing things like testing, daily builds, work item tracking and collaboration. However, if you don't already work this way, you need to be willing to re-learn. VSTS is about PROCESS INTEGRATION and COLLABORATION. If you didn't use NUnit--you probably won't write tests. If you didn't use UML--you probably won't use the class diagrams. If you didn't keep your team in the loop on some new feature you were working on--what makes you think you will now.
The point of this post is not that VSTS can't help you, but it won't if you stick with your status quo. VSTS is about bringing lots of different tools into one place to facilitate process. VSTS is about avoiding taking a “waterfall” approach to development--requirements have to be done before coding, coding before testing, etc. In other words, we used to use one tool for work item tracking and another for build management--now it's one tool. I used NUnit when it was it's own tool. I was hooked on it when it became an VS add-in. Did Microsoft get it *all* right? I don't know, but that what the Visual Studio Integration Partner program is about--building into the IDE the things you need to get the job done.
If you don't already do things that VSTS helps you with, if you don't change your process, VSTS is a likely a waste of your money. BTW--you may need to get some training (not just in VSTS, but in good software development best practices).
Print | posted on Wednesday, January 25, 2006 5:18 PM