In this article, we will focus on MSF, the management theory basis in vsts. It is a concept that was promoted after the release of vsts in the same period, is a set of development processes and solutions that can be used for reference.
MSF Definition
MSF (Microsoft solution framework) is a set of best application practices from Microsoft and many partners over 25 years. It fully integrates software development processes, principles, and recognized practices, it also provides a good template-level solution implementation to support team development. The first thing to note here is that although MSF is still released as a product, it is not a set of software, but a system, a framework, and vsts that integrates the latest MSF 4.0.
Team development issues
I believe that everyone has a similar experience in the team development process. Maybe the Project Manager feels more profound. However, even ordinary developers will feel the following situation: ◆ the project lacks necessary boundary management, change management, and so on. Finally, the product and requirement definition are completely different.
◆ Communication barriers and low team development efficiency
◆ Process management is not flexible enough to cope with problems
◆ Developers may not be required by the customer to focus on the latest technologies and the most cool functions.
◆ So on. As the well-deserved leader in the software industry, how does Microsoft face these problems and practice a project? What success experiences do they have? How can we get their expert-level solutions?
Microsoft solution framework (MSF)Microsoft uses its best practices as the basis of the management philosophy of vsts and provides a set of process methodology-MSF-obtained through best practices. MSF integrates the world view methodology of the IT industry: The goal of the IT world is to efficiently combine the main forces, rich technologies, and processes, rather than more technologies. MSF is a summary of Microsoft's global product group, consulting Department, Information Technology Department, and successful experiences with many partners. It includes two models and three principles: Team model and process model; project Management Guidelines, risk management guidelines, and readiness management guidelines. These models and principles are worth learning from. However, based on the different characteristics of each project, we should learn to be flexible and flexible so that they can truly take effect and blindly follow the established rules, if it remains the same, it is bound to fall behind. Next, let's take a brief look at the two MSF models and three standards. Interested friends can further study the project's needs. Here, we will only discuss the issues and give you a macro understanding, as mentioned above, it is important to learn from and make flexible changes. Completely copying is not a smart approach.
Team ModelOne important factor that hinders project success is that the project cannot communicate and operate in the form of a team. The team model proposed by MSF can effectively avoid gaps and separation between teams, improve the efficiency of teamwork, and thus improve the possibility of project success. The MSF team model divides the entire team into six core roles, including: program management roles, development roles, test roles, release management roles, user experience roles, and product management roles (I will detail the roles, responsibilities, and objectives of the Team model in subsequent articles ), each role assumes different responsibilities, completes different tasks, and connects tasks to each other consecutively, so that roles can communicate with each other. In this way, the team cooperation is strengthened and the work efficiency is improved.
Process ModelProcess model is a very important part of MSF. It can be divided into conception (Planning), planning (design), development, stability, and deployment phases, delivery of different results at each stage can promote the delivery of projects in sequence, increase project predictability and controllability, and ensure that the final project results are consistent with the expected objectives, the convergence of each stage also provides a transition from the start to the end of the project. An important feature of the process model is the use of milestones to ensure that the project direction is correct. Milestones can plan to monitor the progress of the project and determine the delivery time of the main results, project personnel and customers can clearly see our results. Milestones need to be reviewed. Only after they pass the review can they enter the next stage. At the same time, the MSF process model is an iterative process. In this way, the project can be refined to reduce risks. The process model can be well integrated with the team model. Different stages are driven by different roles. At the same time, different roles support milestone implementation at different stages.
Project Management Guidelines
Project management can be used to describe a role and its skills and expertise in a certain field. Note that project management is not completed by the Project Manager, it is completed by many people as an activity. MSF uses a distributed group method for project management. by abstracting group roles into a set of functional responsibilities rather than specific job descriptions, this can improve the accountability, it also allows a wide range of scalability, applicable to both small projects and very large and complex projects.
Risk Management GuidelinesRisks are the possibility of a negative impact on the smooth development of the project. MSF provides some reference principles for me to manage and control risks and improve the chances of project success. MSF defines the following risk management principles: ◆ risks are inevitable
◆ Identifying risks is a positive activity and an activity that must be done in our project
◆ Effectively manage risks. The risk management process must be implemented throughout the project.
◆ Risk assessment. MSF considers this as a continuous activity. It is not necessary to identify risks and manage risks at different stages of the project only after the risks are discussed at the beginning of the project.
◆ Emphasize active risk avoidance
◆ The project value cannot be evaluated simply by the number of risks
Readiness Management Guidelines
Readiness management is the core principle of MSF. Its ultimate goal is to determine the skills required by the team for each project in advance. The methodology used in this guideline will be used to manage the knowledge, skills, and capabilities for planning, building, and managing successful solutions. Continuous readiness management will bring huge technical architecture reserves to enterprise organizations, and also bring immeasurable basic energy to the development of long-term enterprise organizations. Readiness management requires the planning of key categories for continuous operations. With the deepening of readiness management, enterprises will also reduce obstacles in the project process, improve efficiency, and build a larger and larger knowledge base.
ConclusionThe above section briefly introduces the overall MSF framework, including two models and three standards. These are all converged during the implementation process, to get the method rules that adapt to your organization, you also need to further understand and learn from the MSF theory in your work, and gradually explore to form a process model suitable for your team, so as to follow the steps, lightweight and flexible project development.
In this article, I will only elaborate on the basic theory. Interested friends can study it in detail. In the future, we will share some experiences with each role version of vsts.
