It turns out that more of you than expected have access to Visual Studio 2008 Team Foundation Server already and are desperate to evaluate Scrum for Team System v2.0 - so we changed our plans slightly to put out an early version for evaluation.
We're hosting the download on our community forum. You'll need to create an account to sign in and get it. The same logon will give you access to our community support site. Visit
http://scrumforteamsystem.com/forum to sign up, and you'll be able to visit the Beta forum and download the MSI to install on your TFS 2008 server.
So what have we achieved in this release? Quite a lot! - here's just a partial list:
- We've finally got rid of our demons and are now using the 'Iteration Path' to define the hierarchy of Project/Release/Sprint. This means that those ambiguous Sprint numbers are not required, and items on the backlog can easily be moved from one release to another (especially easy with the Excel integration). It also means that when you 'Add Related Work Item' - the Sprint name is copied to the new work item.
- We've added support for using User Stories and associated terminology in the backlog, for example you can specify 'Conditions of Acceptance' in the Product Backlog with an estimate in Story Points or Days.
- We've added a 'Ready for Test' state to the Sprint Backlog Item to allow for better workflow between developers and QA on the project. This should minimise the number of bugs/defects that aren't related to tasks for this sprint.
- A new work item type 'Bug' is modelled on the Product Backlog Item and allows for capture of bugs/defects that are raised 'out of sprint' - such as those raised by a UAT cycle, or a bug that isn't critical that the Product Owner can help prioritise. The Bug work item type also allows for input of Replication Steps and other details you would associate with bugs (and of course you can add your own fields to capture more if you desire).
- The project portal has been updated, and we allow management of the 'Teams' and 'Environment' lists using this interface. This means there are no longer any client tools required to setup the project. The Project Portal now only runs on WSS 3.0 and we've included some WSS 3.0 features such as the Wiki and Team Discussion by default in the template.
- Backend services have been completely rewritten for efficiency. We still have the service running to keep the Work Remaining in sync between the Product Backlog Item and its related Sprint Backlog Items, and have added a service that automatically sets Product Backlog Items 'In Progress' when related Sprint Backlog Items are being worked on.
We've selected a subset of the refreshed reports for this early release, including the Sprint and Product Backlog, Product Backlog Composition and Sprint View (aka Sprint Wall). We've also incorporated a large number of community suggestions from our Feature Request forum, and will continue to do so where we have the capability within the platform.
We're still working on the Process Guidance, technical documentation and reports so bear with us whilst we get these items complete. Once we have the final release ready, we will issue an updated installer that allows you to upgrade the reports to the final version. This will be available free of charge on our website
http://scrumforteamsystem.com