Now that you have created a new team project based on the MSF for Agile Software Development process, you should read and understand the next steps for getting your team working on the team project, and research any additional information needed for understanding how to best use the MSF for Agile Software Development process.
Your First Tasks
When the new team project was created, task work items were also created for you to assign and immediately begin work. To see these tasks, you can open the Project Checklist.xls spreadsheet from the project portal, or Team Explorer. Project Checklist.xls is located in the Project Management folder when viewing the project portal, or the Documents folder in Team Explorer. You can also see these tasks by running the Project Checklist query from Team Explorer.
Exit Criteria
The project checklist contains all work items that are marked as exit criteria for the current iteration. For example, task work items have a field named Exit Criteria. If that field is set to yes for an individual task, it appears on the checklist. The project checklist is used to track all critical work that must be completed to successfully complete the iteration.
The initial tasks in the project checklist comprise those tasks that must be completed before beginning your first iteration. The tasks begin with setup tasks to get team members informed and working on the team project, and conclude with tasks for planning your first iteration.
Make the Team Project Current
Typically project work begins before the team project is created on a Team Foundation Server. If you already began working on product vision, have existing requirements, or have tasks assigned or being tracked, you should bring the team project up-to-date as soon as possible.
Work Products
Review all of the MSF for Agile Software Development work product templates found in the Documents folder in Team Explorer, or on the project portal. If you have existing work products or related information, you can bring the team project up-to-date by uploading external documents to the project portal, or updating the existing MSF documents already on the project portal with existing information.
Work Items
MSF for Agile Software Development uses bug, risk, task, scenario, and quality of service requirement work items. If you already have existing work items that apply to this team project, import them as appropriate. For example, if you have already identified several risks, use Team Explorer to document them as risk work items.
Starting Point in the Workstreams
To begin your team project, the business analyst will begin by writing the vision statement as part of the Capture Project Vision workstream. Also, the project manager begins planning the first iteration as part of the Plan an Iteration workstream. After these two workstreams are under way, other workstreams will naturally begin and other roles will become involved in the team project.
Important Information about MSF for Agile Software Development
Work Item Types
There are five work item types in MSF for Agile Software Development. Each work item type generates metrics that are used in various reports. To keep the reports accurate and track work properly, the team must use the work item types consistently. For more information on the work item types, click the Work Items tab on this page.
Queries
The team queries in the Work Items folder in Team Explorer can be used to obtain useful information about the state of work for the team project. For more information about team queries, click the Index tab, and then click Queries.
Reports
Significant metrics to generate useful reports do not initially exist, but as each day passes on the team project, more and more data concerning the health of the team project is gathered for analysis. The first report to become familiar with is Remaining Work. In your first and remaining iterations, this report helps you monitor the progress of your project. For more information on reports, click the Index tab, and then click Reports.
Setting a Start Page
You can establish a start page in the process guidance based upon your role. When you return to the process guidance later, you return to a page that is filtered for the workstreams that apply to your role. See the 'How To: Get started with MSF' link in the See Also section on the left hand side of this page for more details.
