Anith Gopal

Grant C. recently sent us this question: “ I saw mention in the log of a TfsMigrationTool.ReflectedWorkItemId field but couldn’t find any docs / discussion about it.  I added it to my target WIT and also added my own TfsMigrationTool.SourceProject field as you can see in the config, but I’m curious if there are any other TfsMigrationTool.x fields the tool automatically sets. ” Great question, which allows us to introduce an originally internal Pioneer dog fooding feature, but one that could be invaluable to users of the TFS Integration Platform in WIT migration and/or synchronization scenarios.

If you are using or considering using Team Foundation Server (TFS) 2010 Team Build, then you must have a look at the AIT Build Suite 2010 at http://www.tfsblog.de/2010/02/07/company-wide-build-processes-a-vision-within-reach (German article: http://www.tfsblog.de/2010/02/05/unternehmensweite-buildprozesse-eine-vision-rckt-in-greifbare-nhe/ ). In collaboration with the Rangers we are considering a build quick reference poster as part of the VS 2010 Quick Reference Guidance , which includes this Build Suite, and have requested AIT to deliver a step-step walkthrough to make this “free” nugget an invaluable asset to the power and standard users of TFS 2010. Take a look at the referenced blog post9s), download  and evaluate this nugget!

Thanks to “candid” feedback we have revised a number of the basic and supporting posters, for example, changing references to Historical Debugging with IntelliTrace. Find the latest packages here: http://vs2010quickref.codeplex.com/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=37144 Thank you for the feedback! Keep it coming, because it allows us to continuously improve the guidance.

In a recent custom adapter development we stumbled across another weird run-time error, which became even more obscure as we started discussing,  debugging and troubleshooting the phenomena: The exception which is relevant in the above screen snippet is: “ Method not found ”. Looking at code, reverse stepping and discussing it with the platform project team resulted in no idea what the mysterious exception was caused by. An inspection of the project settings revealed, however, that many of the copy local properties were set to TRUE, which which unfortunately is the default in Visual Studio

Two kind-of questions recently bubbled up on the radar: Should we manually copy (migrate) files from source to target, to reduce the work that the TFS Integration Platform needs to do? In other words, does it help to be pro-active? No, because this manual action will introduce a “VC content conflict type” for every file that was migrated.

In Chatter: Basic Manual Project Management – Part 1: Cost Evaluation we looked at some of the basic cost evaluation techniques, in Chatter: Basic Manual Project Management – Part 2: PERT Techniques we explored the PERT techniques and in the end we mentioned that we may chat about the significance of the standard deviation in the next blog post, to calculate the probability of completing the project on time. Well, let’s conclude that topic for completeness. … extract from diagram in previous related post.

The HR Team at Microsoft Australia have started the recruitment process for 2010 Intern and MACH hires. Positions include Marketing, Finance, HR and Sales and are available in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Assessments are commencing in November so make sure you get your application in immediately

This week’s arrival of Spotify in the App Store (right now limited to UK, Sweden, France, Spain, Norway and Finland stores) could be the ideal opportunity for us all to throw iTunes in the trash and experience the freedom that Spotify has to offer. Speculation was rife as to whether Spotify would even make it into the App Store

Across the pond, our European neighbors have been enjoying Spotify for some time now. It’s only fair that Apple should continue on in that vein and approve Rhapsody for the American masses. Sure Rhapsody costs money and Spotify doesn’t, but it does present a very competitive subscription-based alternative to iTunes.

Getting off the track I recently noticed a question on a distribution list that I have seen and experienced so many time before. A team tried the “Agile” community, failed and plans to move back to another methodology, such as  the prescriptive CMMI or Waterfall, claiming that the processes are proven, reliable and will take them on the road of success.

Lee is heading up this exciting project.

Thanks to everyone who attended our TFS Migration Tools TR9 re-run and a special thanks to Bill Essary and his team for supporting the VSTS Rangers “again”.  Apart from me running on my server after re-installing my laptop with Win7 over the weekend and an “important update install and imminent restart” warning message on the server just before the start of the session, the re-run went fairly well.