Review - Global Outsourcing with Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team System
Don't judge a book by its cover. This is a phrase you have heard time and time again, in countless situations. Well, now it finally applies to a book! I have had the pleasure to read Jamil Azher's new book,
Global Outsourcing with Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team System, and I have to say it is a very interesting read. My biggest fear with the book is that people might see the words "Global Outsourcing" in the title and move past it. Like I said, don't judge a book by its cover.
First, a little bit about Jamil. From the back cover of the book, you find he has degrees from both Cal-Tech and Harvard. He also has long-time experience in the software development field, with particular focus on global outsourcing project management. In the interest of full disclosure, I had the pleasure of meeting and speaking with Jamil this past summer at Tech-Ed 2006. He came across as a gentleman, who was very knowledgeable and eloquent.
The book consists of ten chapters. The first chapter is all about outsourcing, why it happens, what is good about it, and what is not so good about it. He does a great job of providing plenty of references. It’s a nice primer for people who don't know much about outsourcing. The second chapter is all about development processes, and what seems to work and what doesn't with an outsourced project. In my opinion, most of his ideas also apply to distributed teams as well.
After that, you start delving into Team System, and how Team System can help you and your projects. In this regard, Jamil does a very good job. He covers all the basics of Team System, including process models, version control, unit testing, reporting, and the project portal. And for each of these, he always manages to provide a little something extra. Each chapter has a nice example, with the sample code included on the CD that comes with the book. His chapters are also scattered with little tidbits of things to watch out for, or "did you know" kind of things. For example: Did you know that all the reports that are available on the Report Server are not available through Team Explorer? Want to know why? Then go pick up the book and find out.
He also provides a chapter on Integrating with Microsoft Outlook. He discusses some ideas for organizing yourself better with Outlook, and then builds plug-in that allows you to associate emails with VSTS work items. Very cool, in my opinion.
Finally, Jamil does a good job of tying everything back in with global outsourcing, and how Team System can help you with that management process. So don't let the title of this book fool you. Yes, it deals with Global Outsourcing. But there is some great Team System information in this book, and in my opinion, it makes a good addition to any Team System library.