Jeff Beehler was interviewed by Brian Keller on Channel 9 and talks about how VSTS runs their team from the highest level (Pillars), though Value Props, Features, all the way down through Tasks, which could even have sub-tasks.  You'll notice that he spends a lot of time in both VSTS Reporting as well as navigating the Work Item system which is where these project management entities (Pillars, Value Props, Features, Tasks) are stored.  Since Rosario has strongly typed links between work items, it's a very natural experience to dig around (both up and down) the links graph to learn about different aspects of the project.

This is a really interesting video from both a business and requirements perspective because it shows the continuum between the operations of the project at the Task level as it relates to the schedule (bottom levels) and the business value delivered to customers at the Pillars and Value Propositions (top levels).  Remember, it’s not good enough to deliver quality software if you miss the target for the end-user (business) value and Jeff shows how by using TFS he can understand, not only the state, but also the dynamics of the project at both ends and everything in between.

The question that lots of people will have is “How can I get that level of visibility and project management in my team?”  I think the answer has two parts: (1) What is the level of visibility you need for your project.  The VSTS team is a relatively big team broken down to many sub-teams which delivers releases at a specific rate.  The levers you need is a function of your team’s goals related to managing releases, quality, work breakdown, resources, etc… It may look similar to this or require more or less levers and visibility points (2) As Jeff mentioned, those reports were custom reports built by his team.  I’ve yet to run into two teams that work the same way.  Lots of teams say “We’re Agile” and even then there are always subtle differencse at best.  That means that you’ll end up customizing reports, especially at the higher levels.  At the lower level (Tasks) Jeff shows a cumulative work diagram that is very similar (if not the same, I didn’t ask Jeff if it is the same so I’ll say it’s similar) to the Remaining Work report found in MSF.  Bottom line is you’ll have to have someone who knows the TFS database and warehouse build these reports for you.

Check out the Channel 9 Video at http://channel9.msdn.com/Showpost.aspx?postid=391362.