MSF Agile at a Glance

I like to be able to scan process methodologies so I create skeletal views that let me quickly see the key activities, artifacts, principles, and practices of a methodology. MSF for Agile Software Development is a scenario-driven, context-based, agile software development process. Here’s my notes on MSF Agile circa 2005, which might be somewhat dated, but at least give me a quick lens into the main ideas:

Principles

Partner with customers
Foster open communications
Work toward a shared vision
Quality is everyone’s job every day
Stay agile, adapt to change
Make deployment a habit
Flow of value

Mindsets

Quality Is Defined By Customer
Pride of Workmanship
Team of Peers
Frequent Delivery
Willingness to Learn
Get Specific Early
Qualities of Service
Citizenship

Workstreams

Capture Project Vision
Create a Quality of Service Requirement
Create a Scenario
Guide Project
Plan an Iteration
Guide Iteration
Create a Solution Architecture
Build a Product
Fix a Bug
Implement a Development Task
Close a Bug
Test a Quality of Service Requirement
Test a Scenario
Release a Product

Activities By Workstream

Capture Project Vision

Write Vision Statement
Define Personas
Refine Personas

Create a Quality of Service Requirement

Brainstorm quality of Service Requirements
Develop Lifestyle Snapshot
Prioritize Quality of Service Requirements List
Write Quality of Service Requirements
Identify Security Objectives

Create a Scenario

Brainstorm Scenarios
Develop Lifestyle Snapshot
Prioritize Scenario List
Write Scenario Description
Storyboard a Scenario

Guide Project

Review Objectives
Assess Progress
Evaluate Test Metric Thresholds
Triage Bugs
Identify Risk

Plan an Iteration

Determine Iteration Length
Estimate Scenario
Estimate Quality of Service Requirements
Schedule Scenario
Schedule Quality of Service Requirement
Schedule bug Fixing Allotment
Divide Scenarios into Tasks
Divide Quality of Service Requirements into Tasks

Guide Iteration

Monitor Iteration
Mitigate a Risk
Conduct Retrospectives

Create a Solution Architecture

Partition the System
Determine Interfaces
Develop Threat Model
Develop Performance Model
Create Architectural Prototype
Create Infrastructure Architecture

Build a Product

Start a Build
Verify a Build
Fix a Build
Accept Build

Fix a Bug

Reproduce the Bug
Locate the Cause of a Bug
Reassign a Bug
Decide on a Bug Fix Strategy
Code the Fix for a Bug
Create or Update a Unit Test
Perform a Unit Test
Refactor Code; Review Code

Implement a Development Task

Cost a Development Task
Create or Update a Unit Test
Write Code for a Development Task
Perform Code Analysis
Perform a Unit Test
Refactor Code
Review Code
Integrate Code Changes

Close a Bug

Verify a Fix
Close the Bug

Test a Quality of Service Requirement

Define Test Approach
Write Performance Tests
Write Security Tests
Write Stress Tests
Write Load Tests
Select and Run a Test Case
Open a Bug
Conduct Exploratory Testing

Test a Scenario

Define Test Approach
Write Validation Tests
Select and Run a Test Case
Open a Bug
Conduct Exploratory Testing

Release a Product

Execute a Release Plan
Validate a Release
Create Release Notes
Deploy the Product

Artifacts (Work Products)

Vision Statement
System Architecture (See DSI and Whitehorse)
Test Plan (see Context-Driven Testing)
Personas
Scenarios
Storyboards
Development Tasks
Interface Models
Architectural Prototypes
Unit Tests
Classes
Change Sets
Check In Notes
Test Cases
Bug Reports

Disciplines

Requirements
Planning
Architecture
Development
Test

Who Does What

Business Analyst

Capture Project Vision
Create a Quality of Service Requirement
Create a Scenario

Project Manager

Guide Project
Plan an Iteration
Guide Iteration

Architect

Create a Solution Architecture

Developer

Build a Product
Fix a Bug
Implement a Development Task

Tester

Close a Bug
Test a Quality of Service Requirement
Test a Scenario

Release Manager

Release a Product

Cycles and Iterations

Product definition, development, and testing occur in overlapping iterations resulting in incremental completion of the project.
Different iterations have different focus as the project approaches release.
Small iterations allow you to reduce the margin of error in your estimates and provide fast feedback about the accuracy of your project plans.
Each iteration should result in a stable portion of the overall system.

Iterations

Iteration 0

Project Setup
Plan

Iteration 1

Plan
Develop and test
Feedback

Repeat as needed

Plan
Develop and test
Feedback

Iteration N

Develop and test
Release product

Team Model

Advocacy Groups

Architecture.
Development
Product Management
Program Management
Release Management
Test
User Experience

Who Advocates What

Architecture – advocates for the System in the Large.
Development – advocates for the Technical Solution.
Product Management – advocates for the Customer Business.
Program Management – advocates for Solution Delivery.
Release Management – advocates for the smooth delivery and deployment of the solution into the appropriate infrastructure.
Test – advocates for Solution Quality from the Customer Perspective.
User Experience – advocates for the most effective solution in the eyes of the intended users

Team Principles

Team of Peers. A team of peers with clear accountability, shared responsibility and open communications. Each role is accountable for a specific share of the quality of the overall solution.
Advocacy for All Key Constituencies. Advocacy for all key constituencies who must be represented on a successful software project. Every perspective is represented to provide the checks and balances that prevent errors of omission and lopsided decisions.
Stretch to Fit. Stretch to fit to the scale necessary for the specific project. Constituencies may be combined in small teams or further refined as teams scale for larger projects.

Governance

Concerns the control of time and money relative to the flow of value:

Are we doing the right thing?
Can we do it within time and budget?
Are we ready to integrate?
Are we ready to deploy?
Are we realizing the value?

Additional Resources

Microsoft Solutions Framework (Wikipedia)

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Rational Unified Process (RUP) at a Glance