Agile Development Supported by TFS, VS Online

Software project management and development methodologies have changed as the types of applications being produced and their delivery vehicles and pace have become dramatically different from those of a decade ago. Agile software development, a set of practices that enable fast-paced, incremental releases when requirements can fluctuate, and its Scrum variant in particular, have become popular, especially for teams that practice DevOps or deliver software through cloud services and mobile application stores. Team Foundation Server (TFS) and Visual Studio (VS) Online offer tools for teams using these practices, but planning for the tools should be completed before a project has begun.

Methodologies Drive Frequent Incremental Releases

Agile software development methodologies were designed to address the weaknesses of the Waterfall process of software project management, which was the most popular methodology before Agile gained widespread adoption in recent years. Waterfall emphasizes upfront, end-to-end planning before software development begins. For example, design specifications and development and test plans are written and reviewed before any coding takes place. Traditional large software projects where a final product is released every one to three years typically employ Waterfall, which gets its name from the cascading appearance of each phase’s dependency on the completion of the preceding phase. (For an illustration, see “Waterfall and Scrum“.)