Visual Studio ALM Rangers recently called it a daunting but exciting adventure … what’s coming?
On August 31st Bijan briefed the Rangers family on the next conspiracy of your readiness for Visual Studio, the vision, benefits, scope, constraints, timeline and much, much more. When asked how they felt after the briefing, the Rangers responded as 28% phenomenal, 31% excited, 3% concerned and 38% daunting.
In the past the Rangers community tackled between 2-4 concurrent projects, yet this latest conspiracy is considering no less than 21 concurrent solutions … a daunting adventure indeed. As mentioned in Visual Studio ALM Rangers Ruck and Engineering v2 enhancements?!? … getting ready for the next wave of Ranger projects we are implementing a number of engineering enhancements to be in a position to deal with this phenomenal and exciting wave of guidance, out-of-band and a combination of both type of solutions.
The following illustration shows the skeleton of the imminent adventure, which we will start completing over the next few days as project teams and especially project leads are confirmed.
The first observation is that the Rangers are working in close collaboration with other groups, such as DPE and especially Brian Keller and his phenomenal readiness content and virtual machines.
… our
, Brian Keller.
The next observation is that the first Ranger project we are filling in is an upgrade of one of the popular guidance projects, the Visual Studio Quick Reference Guidance.
So, what is it all about, what are the recommended Epics and who is taking ownership of the project lead role?
Visual Studio Quick Reference Guidance
Context
Practical and scenario based guidance and an overview of Visual Studio and Team Foundation Server in the form of compact quick reference sheets, allow users unfamiliar with Visual Studio to get a “quick” overview of features, value and associated Rangers guidance.
Proposed Epics
- Epic: As Alex, the technology consultant, I would like to understand the impact of the next version of Visual Studio
- Epic: As Alex, the technology consultant, I would like a set of quick reference guides including videos (preferable one pagers and posters) so that I quickly understand the features of Visual Studio and Team Foundation Server
- Epic: As Alex, the technology consultant, I would like to understand which Visual Studio ALM Rangers guidance and tooling are relevant to me
- Epic: As Alex, the technology consultant, I would like to understand which readiness material is relevant to me
- Epic: As Alex, the technology consultant, I would like collateral (PowerPoint decks/deep zoom guides, videos etc.) to demo and explain new features to our partners and clients
Project Lead
… the project lead of probably “the” most strategic project in the latest adventure, Chris Burrows .
The final observation is one that is probably the core reason for Chris being visited by a few bouts of daunting dreams. The Visual Studio Quick Reference Guidance not only references the other guidance initiatives, but is the foundation and index of the other 20 Ranger projects. It will be one of the main entry points to the readiness content … in essence the readiness treasure map 
Why your readiness?
We are reacting to your call for timeous readiness, which is applicable to your unique requirements and scenarios. We have been hearing that in general readiness content comes always too late, that the focus is not on feature vs. scenario, that content is hardly ever focused on your special needs and that it is typically scattered all over the digital world. In a nutshell it is hard to impossible for you to get ready in time when new Visual Studio releases emerge.
This is indeed a daunting challenge, but one that is exciting and phenomenal adventure that the Visual Studio ALM Rangers are embracing.
Keep your candid feedback, your concerns and your requirements rolling in! We need it to ensure we deliver to you what you expect 