Professional Team Foundation Server

13.1. Working with Team Members

Central to MSF is the concept of the Team Model. The Team Model is a 180-degree move away from a hierarchical process structure (the waterfall approach) to embrace the concept that all team members are equal stakeholders in the software development process. This may sound simple in theory, but is actually very difficult to implement and requires cooperation and support from the very highest level of management to work.

The PMBOK discusses key stakeholders such as project managers, customers, sponsors, but—in what we regard as a huge omission from that list—neglects to discuss the rest of the team! Process methodologies were first designed with the premise that project members needed to be brought in line and controlled with an iron fist. This is really a reaction to product slips, delays, bugs, and so forth. Most process management books that you can find at a bookstore are large bricks. The emphasis is to bring a team under control and measure time very closely. However, the developer isn't always to blame for project slippages! Often, the chief cause of delays is a lack of visibility and understanding of the velocity of your team (which leads to bad estimation). Figure 13-1 shows the process flow of most waterfall projects.

Figure 13.1. Figure 13-1

As you can see, there is no feedback loop. The management and sales personnel have no idea how ...