Summary

To-do lists. Every project has them, from a simple grocery list to the latest design plans for the next version of an operating system. These lists define the work that needs to be done for a project to be completed successfully. There are many different ways to define these lists. But in development projects, there has not been a good way to tie all these work items together in a way that allows team members to know exactly what they should be working on, and managers and stakeholders to know exactly where the project stands. That is where Team Foundation Server's Work Item Tracking System fits in.

At the beginning of this chapter, you learned about work items, their different components, and some general information about the work items provided for you by the MSF Agile process model.

Next, you got your hands dirty creating a custom work item type. You build the XML code for the work item type, imported the work item type into Team Foundation Server, and created a work item from this work item type. You also exported the work item type, made changes, and reimported it back into Team Foundation Server.

You covered some of the basics of administering work items, including how to create work items, query them, and use Microsoft Excel to view and update work items.

Finally, you explored the work item tracking object model. You created an ASP.NET Web page to view work item information, and you explored the Work Item Query Language by building a console application to display all work items assigned to a particular user.