Chapter 2: Managing Projects with Azure DevOps Boards

In the previous chapter, we introduced DevOps and covered the six principles. We also briefly covered the key concepts and the different services of Azure DevOps. Finally, we introduced the scenarios that we will be using throughout this book.

In this chapter, we are going to cover Azure Boards in more detail. We will start with the different processes and process templates that are available in Azure DevOps. Then, we will create a new organization in Azure DevOps. We imported a sample project and organization called Tailwind Traders in the previous chapter. We will use this example for the rest of this chapter. We will use this Tailwind Traders project to create a new project and learn how to create and manage the different project activities using Azure Boards.

The following topics will be covered in this chapter:

• Understanding processes and process templates
• Creating an organization
• Creating a project
...

Technical requirements

To follow this chapter, you need to have an active Azure DevOps organization. The organization that we'll be using in this chapter was created in Chapter 1, Azure DevOps Overview.

Understanding processes and process templates

With Azure Boards, you can manage the work of your software projects. Teams need tools to support them that can grow and that are flexible. This includes native support for Scrum and Kanban, as well as customizable dashboards and integrated reporting capabilities and tools.

At the start of the project, teams must decide which process and process templates need to be used to support the project model that is being used. The process and the templates define the building blocks of the Work Item tracking system that is used in Azure Boards.

Azure DevOps supports the following processes:

• Basic: This is the simplest model that teams can choose. It uses Epics, Issues, and Tasks to track the work. These artifacts are created when you create a new basic project, as follows:

Figure 2.1 – Basic process

• Agile: Choose Agile when your team uses the Agile planning process. You can track different...

Creating an organization

An organization in Azure DevOps is used to connect groups of related projects. You can plan and track your work here and collaborate with others when developing applications. From the organization level, you can also integrate with other services, set permissions accordingly, and set up continuous integration and deployment.

In the previous chapter, we introduced the scenarios that we will be using throughout this book. Tailwind Traders is an example retail company that is showcasing the future of intelligent application experiences. By generating a project using the DevOps generator, the organization and the project were automatically created.

However, there are cases where you might need to create an organization manually, such as when you first start to use Azure DevOps in an organization, or when it is a logical fit to create a separate organization based on permission requirements. So, we are going to cover this step as well. Therefore, you need...

Creating a project

After creating a new organization, Azure DevOps automatically gives you the ability to create a new project. Perform the following steps:

1. The wizard for creating a project is automatically displayed once you've created a new organization. There, you can specify the project's name. In my case, I named it LearnDevOps.
2. You can also choose if you want your project to be Public, so that everyone on the internet can view it, or Private. If you choose the latter, you need to give access to users manually. We will choose Private for this demo:

   Figure 2.7 – Creating a new project

3. Click + Create project to create the new project. It will be added to the organization that we created in the previous step.
4. There is another way to create a new project. You can do this separately from creating an organization as well. There will be a lot of cases where you'll want to add a new project to an existing organization. For that, click on the...

Creating and managing project activities

Azure DevOps offers different project features that can be used by teams to manage their software development project, such as Work Items, backlogs, sprints, boards, and queries. These will be covered in the following sections.

Work Items

Teams use artifact Work Items to track all the work for a team. Here, you will describe what is needed for the software development project. You can track the features and the requirements, the code defects or bugs, and all other items. The Work Items that are available to you are based on the process that was chosen when the project was created.

Work Items have three different states: new, active, and closed. During the development process, the team can update the items accordingly so that everyone has a complete picture of the work related to the project.

Now, let's create a new Work Item.

Creating a new Work Item

From now on, we are going to use the Tailwind Traders sample project...

Summary

In this chapter, we covered Azure Boards in more depth. We started by looking at the different project templates that you can choose from based on the methodology that your organization embraces. Based on that project template, different Work Items are created that can be used for planning the project. These Work Items can be added to backlogs and relationships can be created for a logical view of the project items. They can also be added to sprints.

In the next chapter, we are going to focus on source code management in Azure DevOps.

Further reading

Check out the following links for more information about the topics that were covered in this chapter:

• What is Azure Boards?: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/boards/get-started/what-is-azure-boards?view=azure-devops&tabs=agile-process
• Choosing a process: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/boards/work-items/guidance/choose-process
• Tracking work with User Stories, Issues, Bugs, Features, and Epics: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/boards/work-items/about-work-items?view=azure-devops&tabs=agile-process
• Creating your Product Backlog: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/boards/backlogs/create-your-backlog?view=azure-devops&tabs=agile-process
• How workflow states and state categories are used in Backlogs and Boards: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/boards/work-items/workflow-and-state-categories?view=azure-devops&tabs=agile-process