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We have used TFS2012 on the cloud and we don't like that there's no reporting service so we're looking to move to on-premise TFS2012. At the same time, we're starting to like Git and we're thinking that it may make more sense than TFS version control.

This obviously requires research and developers to "play admin" so we're taking the time to evaluate whether Jetbrains' highly-appraised solutions are a better fit.

Given a team of 6-8 people that run with Scrum that is eager to be on the "best practice" train for agile and a project that combines .NET technologies for the back-end and Javascript (AngularJS) on the front-end, considering a move from TFS2012 to a TeamCity/YouTrack/Git stack for scrum planning, source control, continuous integration and quality control and issue tracking:

  • What would/could we miss from TFS2012?
  • What are we going to enjoy from the new stack?
  • Is the new stack falling short in any respect that TFS is not and vice versa?

Note: This is a question specific to TFS2012 - there are several comparisons on SO and elsewhere for previous TFS versions and TeamCity, perhaps YouTrack too.

Vadim Kotov
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georgiosd
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  • You can use Git with TFS as of Update 2. – Andrew Clear Apr 11 '13 at 10:51
  • Yes, I know - much cleaner support than the third-party Git plugin that existed before. But YouTrack is much leaner and more effective than TFS. – georgiosd Apr 11 '13 at 19:51
  • So it sounds like you've already answered your own question. If it is "more effective" why are you asking? – Andrew Clear Apr 12 '13 at 14:51
  • I posted the question a week ago. I have installed YouTrack/TeamCity since and have a better idea of what's going on. I'll wait a few more days and then answer myself with what I've learnt. – georgiosd Apr 12 '13 at 15:34
  • @georgiosd, it seems the few more days have passed, and it would be really interesting to know what you have leart yourself about TFS2012 vs TeamCity/YouTrack! – Yan Sklyarenko Apr 19 '13 at 11:25

1 Answers1

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Here's a brief account of my two-week long experience with Git/YouTrack vs 6 months of TFS.

The new stack feels a lot more lightweight than TFS. Both installing (we tried the on-premise TFS shortly) and using TFS gives the sense of a very heavyweight enterprise suite for no reason. This is partially an illusion that the UI design gives but it seems that with YouTrack:

  • Takes less clicks to do anything and even less if you learn some shortcuts and how to use the commands.
  • It's easier to navigate between the views - there are less of them but give a better overview than TFS. This is not because they present more info - in most cases they present less info - but because they give the key information in a visually clean way.
  • The ability to run ad-hoc searches in YouTrack makes such a big difference! In TFS you have to create a query with a UI that tries to makes it easier but ends up making it harder for you than just typing the query params. I mean, we are developers after all.
  • I've enjoyed the local commits of Git and how pull requests work to integrate work from other people into a main branch vs merging on TFS.
  • TeamCity has also been very lightweight to use - though I have no experience with CI on TFS. Having said that, it's an area I didn't delve into much because I was already spending a lot of time managing TFS.

Hiccups and things that I miss from TFS:

  • It's a little harder to manage releases with YouTrack or I haven't figured out how to do it effectively. The management and separation of product backlog, release backlog and sprint backlog is easier on TFS.
  • There's no way to plan a sprint based on capacity of developers - I believe JetBrains is working on that though.
  • You gotta pay for a private Git - though YouTrack/TeamCity are free and full-featured for a few users.

I'll try and keep this up to date as I go.

georgiosd
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