Professional Team Foundation Server

14.4. Examining Future Possibilities

So far you have learned about the different ways that Team Foundation Server currently addresses some of the challenges related to teams and communication. However, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Team Foundation Server was designed with extensibility in mind, and this extensibility makes possible a whole range of new ideas.

This section addresses some of the possible scenarios for the future, which include communicating with Team Foundation Server via instant messenger and Microsoft Outlook. In fact, one of them is possible now, thanks to the hard work of a third-party company called Personify Design. These are just a few examples of how the object model might be used to leverage Team Foundation Server in new and exciting ways. We also look at a real example of having Team Foundation Server send instant message alerts to users.

14.4.1. Receiving Tasks via Instant Messenger

Instant messaging is here to stay, and corporations are working on determining the best way to integrate it into their daily processes. You know that you can already set up Team Foundation Server to e-mail you if there is a problem with your build, or whenever code is checked into the Team Foundation source control system. However, you don't always check your e-mail right away, so you may not be alerted in as timely a manner as you would like.

What if you had Team Foundation Server send you an instant message about the build instead? Or what if you had Team Foundation ...