A guide: Team Foundation Server 2010 @ tech.ed 2009

tech.ed 2009 will be definitely the largest Microsoft Event in Europe this year. I am in the role of a Track Program Manager being responsible for the ALM Sessions within the Developer Track and there is really a lot of work going into that planning. So I would like to give you a guide through the sessions we have planned, with the only and one goal to give you the information to pick the content you are looking for:-)

The following picture (click to enlarge) is showing you the Sessions by Schedule, Content Area and Session Type

None other than Brian Harry is going to kick off the whole story. He will deliver two sessions (marked green) to introduce Visual Studio 2010 and Team Foundation Server 2010. My guidance is, do not miss these sessions! If you just want get an overview, these are the ones to pick. Each session is the lead-in for two areas: Development/Test and Project Management/Architecture.

In Development/Test, Brian Harry will take a deeper dive into Source Code Management with Team Foundation Server 2010. Brian Keller will show you in two sessions the new Test Tools in Visual Studio 2010. Brian decided to deliver this content as two sessions, as it’s too much content for one session. My guidance here is to take both for best results!

In Project Management/Architecture, Stephanie Cuthbertson will show you how to get the most out of Team Foundation Server 2010 for Project Planning and Tracking. Even if it’s not linked by schedule, my guidance is also to look at her session, “How Microsoft Does It: Internal Use of TFS and VSTS for Software Development” and learn how we use Team Foundation Server to build Team Foundation Server. Peter Provost will dive into the new Architecture/Modeling Features; my absolute favorite are the tools for analyzing existing Applications, so do not miss it.

In Administration/Team Foundation Server Basic, Neno Loje will speak about the installation and administration of Team Foundation Server. You need not be an administrator to love this session! He is also running an interactive session (marked red), which will not only give you a couple of good arguments to move from Visual SourceSafe to Team Foundation Server, but also show you how to do it. Doug Seven will show you the new Team Foundation Server Basic, and how you to get Team Foundation Server running on a Windows 7 client.

In Adoption/Patterns/Q&A, we are focusing on agile patterns. Stephen Forte is running three sessions on agile development, like his “Daily Scrum” Session. Peter Provost does his famous interactive session, “An Agile Talk on Agility,” which was one of the best rated interactive sessions last year at Teched 2008.

In addition, do not miss the interactive, “Visual Studio Team System Unplugged’” session, which will give you the chance to meet the Team Foundation Server leadership team at Tech∙Ed. Ask Brian Harry and Stephanie Cuthbertson your toughest Team Foundation Server questions and give them your product feedback.

The last session at Tech∙Ed is the interactive, “Visual Studio Team System 2010 Panel”, which is pure Q&A and that’s why it’s last. Join Peter Provost, Doug Seven and me and ask your questions. For any Team Foundation Server questions that stump the panel and for which I need to follow-up on my blog, we will give you a goody!

So hope to see you see there

Christian Binder