Visual Studio ALM Rangers

Visual Studio ALM Rangers deliver out of band solutions for missing features or guidance.

Featured Solutions

Getting Started with IBM Rational to Team Foundation Server Migrations

Learn how to migrate to Team Foundation Server from IBM Rational ClearCase and Rational ClearQuest. Check out this detailed resource that includes a step-by-step guide, prerequisite information, links to documentation and tools, and a detailed walk-through of the guidance available.

Build Customization Guide

Hands-on lab guidance for the customization and deployment of Team Foundation Build 2010 activities such as versioning, code signing, and branching. The guidance includes scenario based practical guidance, hands on labs, and lessons learned from the community.

For additional guidance, check out the Visual Studio Build Customization Guidance blog post that contains pointers to a variety of learning resources.

Annual Award Winners

Brian Blackman

Brian is a Principal Consultant with the Microsoft Services Partner ISV team focusing on affecting our ISV partner’s success in engineering and in the market place. Brian is a CSM, MCSD (C++), MCTS, and ALM Core Ranger. He spends his time writing code, creating and delivering workshops, and consulting in various concentrations and all things ALM.

Bill Essary

Bill is a Software Architect within the Visual Studio Team Foundation Server team. He has over 20 years of experience as a software engineer and has participated in every release of TFS.

Mike Fourie

Mike is an independent ALM consultant specializing in Build and Release automation. He is a Microsoft Visual Studio ALM (formerly Team System) MVP and a passionate contributor to ALM Ranger projects and several open source initiatives on CodePlex. He is inspired by the learning and opportunity that every day brings. Mike’s cherished spare time is spent in the great outdoors with his pet dogs.

Bill Heys

Bill is a Senior Consultant with Microsoft’s Americas Consulting Services in New England. As a Visual Studio ALM Ranger and Certified ScrumMaster, he specializes in Application Lifecycle Management consulting and custom application development using Visual Studio.

Champions Recognized by their Colleagues in the Community

	Michael Fourie Mike is an independent ALM consultant specializing in Build and Release automation. He is a Visual Studio ALM MVP and a passionate contributor to ALM Ranger projects and several open source initiatives on CodePlex. He is inspired by the learning and opportunity that every day brings. Mike’s cherished spare time is spent in the great outdoors with his pet dogs.
	Martin Hinshelwood Martin is a Senior ALM Consultant at Northwest Cadence and a Visual Studio ALM MVP. with over 9 years experience in the software industry. He is a member of the Visual Studio ALM Rangers and is also a Professional Scrum Trainer. He regularly writes on his Processes, Practices & Tools blog, and speaks often on Scrum, good practices and Visual Studio ALM. Martin aims to provide Strategic and Tactical consulting on successful implementations of new Processes, Practices & Tools within both small and large organisations across the world.
	Robert MacLean Nestled in a typical open plan development office at BBD in South-Africa, you will find Robert MacLean’s desk where this passionate technology specialist is often working on the latest and greatest technology from Microsoft. Robert can often be found presenting, demo’ing, networking or drinking free beer at the many conferences, events, user groups and communities. His highlights include a son capable of playing games on Xbox, but not toilet trained (yet) and winning the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) of the Year in 2011. He often shares his thoughts, lessons learned and tools on his SADev blog or via Twitter (@rmaclean).

Additional Resources

Magazine Featured Articles

	Visual Studio ALM Rangers: Rise of the VM Factory In this article, we delve into the Virtual Machine Factory (VM Factory), exploring its concepts and advantages.
	ALM Guidance: Visual Studio ALM Rangers — Reflections on Virtual Teams Learn about a customized project-management process called Ruck that can be used with Team Foundation Server. Leverage valuable lessons on organizing and managing teams with members around the globe.
	Team Foundation Server: Visual Studio Team Foundation Server Branching and Merging Guidance Learn firsthand from members of one of Microsoft’s expert “Ranger” teams how best to handle software development branching with Visual Studio Team Foundation Server.
	Team Foundation Server: Visual Studio Team Foundation Server Team Project and Collection Guidance Microsoft’s expert “Ranger” team presents guidance for organizing and provisioning Team Foundation Server Team Projects and Team Project Collections.