Introducing the Visual Studio ALM Rangers – Paul Laberge

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This post is part of an ongoing series of Rangers introductions. SeeRanger Index (Who is Who?)for more details.

Who am I?Paul Laberge

I’m Paul Laberge, the technical solutions specialist for Visual Studio for Canada.  I’m a proud Canadian and someone who values time with his family.  I also enjoy football (the North American kind), hockey and golf.  I’m also a (terrible) occasional gamer who was lucky enough to join XBOX Live early enough to get an awesome gamertag (Seesharp).  My background is in technology (8 years in consulting and then 7 years within Microsoft) and previously I was Canada’s primary evangelist for Windows Phone and part of the team that actually launched Microsoft’s new mobile platform.  I am also a writer when I can find the time to spare. 

What makes me tick?

I love seeing teams build elegant software solutions.  I’ve seen great (and not so great) software implementations and when it’s done right, a great software solution is like a masterpiece of art.  I love that I get to help teams build those masterpieces.

Where do you live?

I live in Oakville, Ontario, Canada.  It’s town that’s around a 30 minute drive west of Toronto.

Why are you active in the Rangers program?

I love seeing software development teams build great software solutions.  Part of that means those teams can benefit from the collective experience of some of the smartest people on the subject of Application Lifecycle Management, which is what the Rangers program is all about.  I love being able to provide the community with the best practices on ALM I’ve learned so that they can benefit from that and, just as importantly, that I can learn from the amazing Rangers team’s experience as well.  It’s win-win!

What is the best Rangers project you’ve been a part of?

While I am new to the Ranger programme myself, the project that I’ve found the most beneficial to me has been the Branching and Merging guidance.  This is a hotly debated topic in ALM circles and the content and guidance this project provides was a real eye opener to me on some very effective strategies for managing software versions.