Microsoft Solutions Framework Essentials

By Michael S.V. Turner

Get the definitive guide to learning the foundational principles, mindsets, and best practices of the Microsoft Solutions Framework (MSF), Version 4. Written by a solutions delivery expert, this... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0735623538
• ISBN13: 9780735623538
• Release Date: September 2006
• Publisher: Microsoft Press
• Length: 448 Pages
• Weight: 1.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 1.0" x 7.5"

Customer Reviews

Very Good

I purchased this book to help me on my job. It was in good condition and served its purpose.

Very good process framework description

A very good description of the MSF processes. Concise and essential; before reading this book I even didn't know of the existence of Microsoft Solutions Framework: at the end of the book I have confidence with the processes and the models. The only thing that could be emproved is the description of Principles and Mindsets, that I found a little bit abstract. Anyhow I strongly reccomand this book for all MSF neofites.

Many good ideas on the SDLC

This book explores version 4 of Microsoft's Solutions Framework, the high-level guidelines Microsoft follows for their software development lifecycle. MSF, and hence this book, is rather abstract. Therefore, it won't tell you step by step what you should do. But hopefully you are aware that there is no such thing as perfect SDLC process- each situation demands finding the best solution for the specific context involved. This book has some great points - from the foundational principles such as "foster open communications" and "partner with customers" to the way project "phases" are renamed "tracks" to emphasize their overlap. And therein lies the strength of this book - it forces the reader to consider just about everything that should be considered from inception through delivery of a software project. In terms of drawbacks, the biggest one is that the book focuses virtually exclusively on huge teams in huge projects. The paragraph or two talking about combining advocacies is entirely insufficient. Even when one person handles most of a project, all the aspects need to be considered and covered. One drawback the book avoided was focusing on Microsoft and/or Microsoft technologies. Aside from a couple of minor plugs for specific product, this book is technology and product agnostic. Overall, this book is well-written and useful.

Excellent material!

This is a mandatory reference to anyone who wants to use MSF in projects. In this book, Mike presents all the essential concepts and how to apply them.

A Handy Team Building Guide for Project Managers

I got the book as a gift from a friend and found it helpful for my cross-country project. Although I have not done reading this book while writing this review, I found the approach in the book is very practical and would like to share my feedback. Team communication has always been a challenge to my US-Japan-China projects. Not only does everyone have different time-zone, experience, or priority/urgency, but some of us also cover multiple projects at the same time. The book shows an approach and I adopted to evaluate my solution delivery environment. After communicated the assessment and objectives to my team members what to expect and take pre-planning actions for cost control, quality assurance, scheduling, and risk control! Amazingly, the meeting was naturally turned into issue solving and team collaboration discussions. Most of us left for a clearer understanding of what we want to achieve in mind. It was something I was not expecting. It is a good tool to keep in mind!