Microsoft has built a tool to track the daily progress of Scrum-based software development projects.
The eScrum 1.0 project management tool was released this week. It provides “a one-stop place for all Scrum artifacts, such as product backlogs, sprint backlogs, task management, retrospectives, and reports,” said Microsoft’s S. “Soma” Somasegar, corporate vice-president of the company’s developer division, in his blog.
Intended for users of the company’s Visual Studio 2005 Team Foundation Server (TFS) application lifecycle management server, eScrum integrates with TFS Team Explorer, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft Project. A Web-based UI is featured.
Scrum, as described on the Scrum Web page by Control Chaos, is an agile methodology featuring an iterative process for developing a product or managing work. Potentially shippable functionality is produced at every iteration. Control Chaos was set up by Advanced Development Methods, which offers Scrum implementation and consulting.
“Many development teams inside Microsoft are now using the agile methodology for software development and had been looking for a way to track their daily progress. Some of the product units in Developer Division are also using this methodology,” Somasegar said.