Understanding the Visual Studio ALM Rangers

Mission The Visual Studio ALM | DevOps Rangers provide practical guidance, experience, and gap-filling solutions to the developer community. aka.ms/vsarmission Core values As a team the Rangers have come to value the following:Razor sharp focus onquality and detail on the work we do Favor simplicity and low tech over complexity Expect and adapt to change, delivering incremental value Accountability and commitment Actively manage the project triangle attributes: features, bandwidth and cost Never go dark … always share the good, the bad and the ugly with the team Non-stop and unrestricted collaboration Empower the community Embrace open communications Global transparency and visibility through collaboration and shared infrastructure For all initiatives, track and publish status on a timely basis Access to everything for everyone Empathy, trust, humility, honesty and openness at all times No one knows everything; as a team we know more Learn from and share all experiences Regular dogfooding of Visual Studio Application Lifecycle Management tools Improve productivity of Ranger teams Gather and share real-life experiences

Who are we? We are a group of around 100 part-time volunteer engineers and 2 full-time Ranger PMs, scattered across the globe. What do we do? We are focused primarily on the delivery of out-of-band tooling and practical guidance to remove adoption blockers in real world environments. Typically a Ranger solution is a hybrid of practical guidance and supporting out-of-band tooling and sample code. Why do we do it? We do what we do, to help accelerate the adoption of Visual Studio ALM and DevOps. We gather actionable product feedback from real-world situations and customers and relay this to the Product Group, as well as identifying gaps in the product and filling them!Typically, the Rangers spend their personal hours to do the Rangers project work, and, not just anyone is invited to participate — Rangers need to be knowledgeable about Visual Studio, ALM, and DevOps, have the desire to strengthen the community, and contribute regularly. Our history The Rangers program began in March 2006 as a joint venture between the Visual Studio Team System team and the Worldwide Communities program, part of the Office of the CTO (Chief Technology Officer) in the Microsoft Services organization.

Frequently asked questions

How do I contact you?

• Preferably, contact your favourite and regional Ranger from aka.ms/vsarIndex.
• Alternatively contact us here (@almrangers).

How do I join the Rangers?

• Please contact your regional Ranger and request him/her to submit your nomination on your behalf.
• Submit the following information as part of your request:
  • Overview
    • Why do you want to join the Rangers?
    • Short and crisp bio, answering the common 5 index questions. See aka.ms/vsarIndex for examples.
    • Who are you?
    • What makes you “tick”?
    • Where you live?
    • Optional, if applicable
    • • Why are you active in or with the Rangers program?
      • What is the best Rangers project you worked with and why?
  • 1-3min video of you with a quick intro, for example, covering answers above.
  • One or more non-IT (business) photo which includes you.
  • Contact details, including MSA (LiveID) account, contact email, postal address, and telephone number.

Renewing membership?

• To remain an active Ranger you need to be actively involved in the Ranger community.
• Renewals and special awards, such as distinguished or champion Rangers, are based on feedback from your peers.