Azure DevOps - Simply Explained

1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,040
Welcome to another episode of Microsoft Knowledge Nuggets on M365.

2
00:00:03,040 --> 00:00:04,760
FM, I'm your host, Mirko Peters.

3
00:00:04,760 --> 00:00:07,160
Today's topic is one that almost everyone has heard of,

4
00:00:07,160 --> 00:00:08,640
but few can actually explain.

5
00:00:08,640 --> 00:00:10,000
What exactly is as your DevOps?

6
00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:12,720
Is it just a tool for developers or is it something much bigger?

7
00:00:12,720 --> 00:00:13,880
So you want to build software.

8
00:00:13,880 --> 00:00:16,200
Maybe it's a website, maybe it's a mobile app,

9
00:00:16,200 --> 00:00:18,600
maybe it's something that helps your company run better.

10
00:00:18,600 --> 00:00:20,000
And you sit down to plan it out.

11
00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:21,400
You need a tool to track tasks.

12
00:00:21,400 --> 00:00:23,160
You need some way to store code.

13
00:00:23,160 --> 00:00:24,800
You need a way to test your work.

14
00:00:24,800 --> 00:00:26,880
And you need to actually get it out to people.

15
00:00:26,880 --> 00:00:29,280
Before you know it, you're juggling five different tools

16
00:00:29,280 --> 00:00:30,760
from five different companies.

17
00:00:30,760 --> 00:00:33,000
One for task management, another for code,

18
00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:35,440
a third for testing, a fourth for deployment.

19
00:00:35,440 --> 00:00:36,800
And none of them talk to each other.

20
00:00:36,800 --> 00:00:38,080
It's a mess.

21
00:00:38,080 --> 00:00:40,720
Microsoft looked at that chaos and built something to fix it.

22
00:00:40,720 --> 00:00:43,320
It's called Azure DevOps, and it's not just another tool

23
00:00:43,320 --> 00:00:44,200
to add to your pile.

24
00:00:44,200 --> 00:00:46,440
It's one connected platform that handles

25
00:00:46,440 --> 00:00:48,480
the entire software development lifecycle,

26
00:00:48,480 --> 00:00:52,360
planning, coding, testing, deploying, all in one place.

27
00:00:52,360 --> 00:00:54,480
By the end of this episode, you'll understand

28
00:00:54,480 --> 00:00:57,640
what Azure DevOps actually is and how the five core pieces

29
00:00:57,640 --> 00:00:58,440
fit together.

30
00:00:58,440 --> 00:01:00,200
Think of it like a modern office building,

31
00:01:00,200 --> 00:01:02,760
word and Excel are individual rooms you work in.

32
00:01:02,760 --> 00:01:04,920
Microsoft 365 is the entire building

33
00:01:04,920 --> 00:01:06,800
with security and filing systems.

34
00:01:06,800 --> 00:01:08,520
Azure DevOps is the same idea.

35
00:01:08,520 --> 00:01:10,640
It's the whole building for software development,

36
00:01:10,640 --> 00:01:14,240
not just a single room, so what exactly is Azure DevOps?

37
00:01:14,240 --> 00:01:15,600
Here's the simplest definition.

38
00:01:15,600 --> 00:01:17,280
Azure DevOps is a connected platform

39
00:01:17,280 --> 00:01:19,520
for the whole software development lifecycle.

40
00:01:19,520 --> 00:01:21,200
That's a mouthful, so let's break it down.

41
00:01:21,200 --> 00:01:23,520
20 years ago, if you wanted to build software,

42
00:01:23,520 --> 00:01:25,280
you'd buy separate products for everything.

43
00:01:25,280 --> 00:01:28,400
One tool for tracking bugs, another for managing source code,

44
00:01:28,400 --> 00:01:31,080
a third for automating builds, a fourth for testing,

45
00:01:31,080 --> 00:01:33,560
a fifth for deploying, and you'd spend half your time

46
00:01:33,560 --> 00:01:35,520
just getting them to share data with each other.

47
00:01:35,520 --> 00:01:37,720
Microsoft looked at this complexity and thought,

48
00:01:37,720 --> 00:01:40,200
what if all these services work together under one roof,

49
00:01:40,200 --> 00:01:41,480
so they build Azure DevOps?

50
00:01:41,480 --> 00:01:42,240
It's not one tool.

51
00:01:42,240 --> 00:01:44,000
It's five services that work together.

52
00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:46,120
Azure boards for planning, Azure repos for code,

53
00:01:46,120 --> 00:01:49,320
Azure pipelines for automation, Azure test plans for quality,

54
00:01:49,320 --> 00:01:51,120
Azure artifacts for sharing packages,

55
00:01:51,120 --> 00:01:53,120
each one does its own job, but they're all connected.

56
00:01:53,120 --> 00:01:55,400
Let's go back to the office building analogy.

57
00:01:55,400 --> 00:01:57,320
The reception desk manages who comes in,

58
00:01:57,320 --> 00:01:58,920
that's your identity service.

59
00:01:58,920 --> 00:02:00,600
The offices are where people work.

60
00:02:00,600 --> 00:02:02,040
That's boards and repos.

61
00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:04,800
The mailroom handles packages, that's artifacts.

62
00:02:04,800 --> 00:02:06,640
The security team protects the building,

63
00:02:06,640 --> 00:02:08,680
that's your access controls and policies.

64
00:02:08,680 --> 00:02:10,760
Each has a job, but they're all under one roof.

65
00:02:10,760 --> 00:02:13,960
They share information, they work together, that's the whole point.

66
00:02:13,960 --> 00:02:15,520
And here's the best part for beginners.

67
00:02:15,520 --> 00:02:17,120
Azure DevOps has a free tier.

68
00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:19,040
You can create an account, start a project,

69
00:02:19,040 --> 00:02:21,280
and use the core features without paying anything.

70
00:02:21,280 --> 00:02:22,920
Five free users get full access.

71
00:02:22,920 --> 00:02:25,400
Unlimited stakeholders get limited access for free,

72
00:02:25,400 --> 00:02:27,480
so you can literally start today with zero cost

73
00:02:27,480 --> 00:02:29,080
and figure out if it works for you.

74
00:02:29,080 --> 00:02:31,240
No credit card required, no sales call.

75
00:02:31,240 --> 00:02:33,760
Just go to devichedazure.com and create an account.

76
00:02:33,760 --> 00:02:36,320
So let's walk through the five services, one by one,

77
00:02:36,320 --> 00:02:39,240
starting with the place where all your work begins.

78
00:02:39,240 --> 00:02:42,200
Azure boards, your projects command center.

79
00:02:42,200 --> 00:02:44,840
So as your boards is where you plan and track your work,

80
00:02:44,840 --> 00:02:47,080
think of it as your projects command center.

81
00:02:47,080 --> 00:02:49,960
If you've ever used sticky notes on a wall to track tasks,

82
00:02:49,960 --> 00:02:51,960
you already understand the basic idea.

83
00:02:51,960 --> 00:02:54,560
But instead of physical sticky notes that fall off and get lost,

84
00:02:54,560 --> 00:02:56,440
boards gives you a digital can-band board

85
00:02:56,440 --> 00:02:58,840
that everyone on your team can see an update in real time.

86
00:02:58,840 --> 00:02:59,760
Let's break it down.

87
00:02:59,760 --> 00:03:01,800
You start by creating work items.

88
00:03:01,800 --> 00:03:03,880
A work item is anything you need to track.

89
00:03:03,880 --> 00:03:08,080
A user story, a feature, an epic, a task, or a bug.

90
00:03:08,080 --> 00:03:10,880
Each one has fields for description, priority, status,

91
00:03:10,880 --> 00:03:12,080
and who it's assigned to.

92
00:03:12,080 --> 00:03:14,280
You organize these work items into a backlog,

93
00:03:14,280 --> 00:03:17,440
which is just a prioritized list of everything you need to do.

94
00:03:17,440 --> 00:03:18,880
You can group them into hierarchies,

95
00:03:18,880 --> 00:03:20,560
epics at the top, features underneath,

96
00:03:20,560 --> 00:03:23,320
user stories under those and tasks under the stories.

97
00:03:23,320 --> 00:03:26,440
That gives you a clear picture of what you're building and why.

98
00:03:26,440 --> 00:03:27,640
Then you plan sprints.

99
00:03:27,640 --> 00:03:30,520
A sprint is a fixed period of time, usually two weeks,

100
00:03:30,520 --> 00:03:33,560
where your team commits to completing a set of work items.

101
00:03:33,560 --> 00:03:35,800
You drag items from your backlog into a sprint,

102
00:03:35,800 --> 00:03:37,480
and suddenly you have a plan.

103
00:03:37,480 --> 00:03:39,920
Everyone knows what they're working on, and when it's due,

104
00:03:39,920 --> 00:03:41,000
you also have queries.

105
00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:43,440
Queries let you search and filter your work items.

106
00:03:43,440 --> 00:03:46,280
Show me all bugs assigned to Sarah that are high priority.

107
00:03:46,280 --> 00:03:48,080
Show me all user stories in the current sprint

108
00:03:48,080 --> 00:03:49,080
that are still active.

109
00:03:49,080 --> 00:03:52,080
Queries are powerful because they turn your data into answers.

110
00:03:52,080 --> 00:03:54,880
You can save them, share them, and use them to build dashboards.

111
00:03:54,880 --> 00:03:56,520
And dashboards are where it all comes together.

112
00:03:56,520 --> 00:03:58,480
You can create custom dashboards with widgets

113
00:03:58,480 --> 00:04:01,640
that show burn-down charts, velocity, work item counts, and more.

114
00:04:01,640 --> 00:04:03,440
Your team gets a live view of progress

115
00:04:03,440 --> 00:04:05,880
without anyone having to write a status report.

116
00:04:05,880 --> 00:04:07,080
Let me give you a quick example.

117
00:04:07,080 --> 00:04:09,080
Imagine a small team building a website.

118
00:04:09,080 --> 00:04:12,680
The product owner creates an epic called customer portal.

119
00:04:12,680 --> 00:04:15,280
Under that, they create features like user registration

120
00:04:15,280 --> 00:04:16,920
and order history.

121
00:04:16,920 --> 00:04:20,360
Under user registration, they create user stories like,

122
00:04:20,360 --> 00:04:23,520
as a customer, I want to create an account with my email.

123
00:04:23,520 --> 00:04:26,480
Under that story, developers create tasks,

124
00:04:26,480 --> 00:04:29,920
build registration form, set up email verification,

125
00:04:29,920 --> 00:04:31,400
write unit tests.

126
00:04:31,400 --> 00:04:33,320
Each task gets assigned to someone.

127
00:04:33,320 --> 00:04:35,280
The team tracks progress on the Kanban board.

128
00:04:35,280 --> 00:04:37,600
Everyone can see what's done, what's in progress,

129
00:04:37,600 --> 00:04:38,880
and what's coming next.

130
00:04:38,880 --> 00:04:41,280
Now compare that to using Excel or a whiteboard.

131
00:04:41,280 --> 00:04:42,280
Excel is static.

132
00:04:42,280 --> 00:04:44,440
You email a spreadsheet, someone updates it,

133
00:04:44,440 --> 00:04:47,840
emails it back, and by the time you get it, it's out of date.

134
00:04:47,840 --> 00:04:49,720
A whiteboard is better for brainstorming,

135
00:04:49,720 --> 00:04:50,720
but it's not searchable.

136
00:04:50,720 --> 00:04:51,920
It's not connected to anything.

137
00:04:51,920 --> 00:04:53,920
And if someone erases something, it's gone.

138
00:04:53,920 --> 00:04:54,760
Bords is live.

139
00:04:54,760 --> 00:04:55,440
It's searchable.

140
00:04:55,440 --> 00:04:58,040
It's connected to your code, your tests, and your deployments.

141
00:04:58,040 --> 00:04:59,520
When someone updates a work item,

142
00:04:59,520 --> 00:05:00,720
everyone sees it instantly.

143
00:05:00,720 --> 00:05:03,440
So you've planned your work, you know what needs to be built.

144
00:05:03,440 --> 00:05:05,360
But you need somewhere to store the actual code.

145
00:05:05,360 --> 00:05:07,160
That's where Azure Repos comes in.

146
00:05:07,160 --> 00:05:09,360
Azure Repos, your code's permanent home.

147
00:05:09,360 --> 00:05:10,600
So you've planned your work.

148
00:05:10,600 --> 00:05:11,920
You know what needs to be built.

149
00:05:11,920 --> 00:05:13,800
But you need somewhere to store the actual code.

150
00:05:13,800 --> 00:05:15,360
That's where Azure Repos comes in.

151
00:05:15,360 --> 00:05:18,440
Azure Repos is version control for your code using Git.

152
00:05:18,440 --> 00:05:21,720
Git is the industry standard, and most developers already use it.

153
00:05:21,720 --> 00:05:24,240
Repos gives you a place to host your Git repositories

154
00:05:24,240 --> 00:05:25,960
right inside Azure DevOps.

155
00:05:25,960 --> 00:05:27,360
Here's the bookwriting analogy.

156
00:05:27,360 --> 00:05:29,800
Imagine you're writing a book with a team of authors.

157
00:05:29,800 --> 00:05:31,600
You could email chapters back and forth.

158
00:05:31,600 --> 00:05:35,160
Someone edits chapter three, emails it, someone else edits it again.

159
00:05:35,160 --> 00:05:38,200
And pretty soon you have files named Final chapter three,

160
00:05:38,200 --> 00:05:41,400
V2, sent, actual, DocX.

161
00:05:41,400 --> 00:05:43,320
And nobody knows which version is the real one.

162
00:05:43,320 --> 00:05:46,120
That's what software development looked like before version control.

163
00:05:46,120 --> 00:05:50,200
With Git and Azure Repos, everyone works from the same central repository.

164
00:05:50,200 --> 00:05:52,920
You create a branch, think of it as your own copy of the book

165
00:05:52,920 --> 00:05:55,640
where you can make changes without affecting anyone else.

166
00:05:55,640 --> 00:05:57,720
You write your chapter, test it, and when you're ready,

167
00:05:57,720 --> 00:05:58,960
you create a pull request.

168
00:05:58,960 --> 00:06:02,200
That's a request to merge your changes back into the main book.

169
00:06:02,200 --> 00:06:05,360
Other authors review your changes, leave comments, and catch mistakes.

170
00:06:05,360 --> 00:06:08,000
Once everyone approves, your changes get merged in.

171
00:06:08,000 --> 00:06:09,360
And the whole history is tracked.

172
00:06:09,360 --> 00:06:11,880
You can see exactly who changed what, when and why.

173
00:06:11,880 --> 00:06:13,440
This is why beginners should care.

174
00:06:13,440 --> 00:06:17,000
No more messy file names or wondering if you're working on the latest version.

175
00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:19,440
No more accidentally overwriting someone else's work.

176
00:06:19,440 --> 00:06:20,560
It gives you a safety net.

177
00:06:20,560 --> 00:06:23,640
You can experiment, make mistakes, and roll back if something breaks.

178
00:06:23,640 --> 00:06:26,360
And it's like having an undo button for your entire project.

179
00:06:26,360 --> 00:06:28,640
And here's where the connection to boards comes in.

180
00:06:28,640 --> 00:06:32,000
You can link your commits and pull requests directly to work items.

181
00:06:32,000 --> 00:06:35,680
When a developer fixes a bug, they include the bug ID in their commit message.

182
00:06:35,680 --> 00:06:38,160
And that commit gets linked to the work item in boards.

183
00:06:38,160 --> 00:06:39,600
Suddenly you have full traceability.

184
00:06:39,600 --> 00:06:43,400
You can see exactly which code changes were made for each feature or bug fix.

185
00:06:43,400 --> 00:06:46,880
Product managers can click a work item and see the actual code that was written.

186
00:06:46,880 --> 00:06:50,080
Developers can look at a commit and see which user story it belongs to.

187
00:06:50,080 --> 00:06:51,560
Everything is connected.

188
00:06:51,560 --> 00:06:53,320
So now your code is stored and tracked.

189
00:06:53,320 --> 00:06:53,960
It's safe.

190
00:06:53,960 --> 00:06:54,880
It's versioned.

191
00:06:54,880 --> 00:06:55,920
But it's just sitting there.

192
00:06:55,920 --> 00:06:57,400
How do you actually get it to run?

193
00:06:57,400 --> 00:07:00,880
How do you turn that code into a working application that people can use?

194
00:07:00,880 --> 00:07:02,960
That's where Azure Pipelines comes in.

195
00:07:02,960 --> 00:07:05,080
Azure Pipelines, the automation engine.

196
00:07:05,080 --> 00:07:08,080
Azure Pipelines is the automation engine that builds, tests, and

197
00:07:08,080 --> 00:07:09,560
deploys your code automatically.

198
00:07:09,560 --> 00:07:12,600
In plain English, it takes your code and turns it into a running application

199
00:07:12,600 --> 00:07:14,360
without you having to do it by hand.

200
00:07:14,360 --> 00:07:15,560
Think of it like a bakery.

201
00:07:15,560 --> 00:07:19,840
Imagine you run a bakery and you bake each loaf of bread by hand for every single customer order.

202
00:07:19,840 --> 00:07:21,560
That's what manual deployment looks like.

203
00:07:21,560 --> 00:07:25,200
Someone writes code, you manually copy it to a server, you manually run the build,

204
00:07:25,200 --> 00:07:26,440
you manually check if it works.

205
00:07:26,440 --> 00:07:28,200
It's slow, it's error prone.

206
00:07:28,200 --> 00:07:30,480
And if you get a lot of orders, you simply can't keep up.

207
00:07:30,480 --> 00:07:32,280
That's where Azure Pipelines comes in.

208
00:07:32,280 --> 00:07:33,960
You automate the whole process.

209
00:07:33,960 --> 00:07:38,200
You set it up once and it runs automatically every time someone changes the code.

210
00:07:38,200 --> 00:07:39,880
This is called CICD.

211
00:07:39,880 --> 00:07:42,400
Continuous integration and continuous delivery.

212
00:07:42,400 --> 00:07:44,400
Here's what continuous integration means.

213
00:07:44,400 --> 00:07:47,360
Every time a developer pushes code to the repository,

214
00:07:47,360 --> 00:07:50,560
the pipeline automatically builds the application and runs tests.

215
00:07:50,560 --> 00:07:52,320
If something breaks, you know immediately.

216
00:07:52,320 --> 00:07:55,480
Not two weeks later when someone tries to deploy right away.

217
00:07:55,480 --> 00:07:58,680
The developer gets notified, they fix it, and they push again.

218
00:07:58,680 --> 00:08:02,560
Bugs get caught early when they're cheap to fix, not late when they're expensive.

219
00:08:02,560 --> 00:08:07,160
Continuous delivery means that built and tested code gets automatically deployed to your environments.

220
00:08:07,160 --> 00:08:10,160
First, to a test environment where QA can verify it.

221
00:08:10,160 --> 00:08:12,520
Then to staging where you can do final checks.

222
00:08:12,520 --> 00:08:14,480
Then to production where real users see it.

223
00:08:14,480 --> 00:08:16,440
Each stage can have approvals built in.

224
00:08:16,440 --> 00:08:19,120
A manager might need to approve the production deployment.

225
00:08:19,120 --> 00:08:21,400
A QA lead might need to sign off on the test results.

226
00:08:21,400 --> 00:08:23,080
The pipeline handles all of that.

227
00:08:23,080 --> 00:08:24,440
Let's break down the key features.

228
00:08:24,440 --> 00:08:27,120
You have YAML files, stages, approvals, and agents.

229
00:08:27,120 --> 00:08:30,080
YAML is a simple text file where you define your pipeline.

230
00:08:30,080 --> 00:08:32,600
It lives in your repository alongside your code,

231
00:08:32,600 --> 00:08:35,160
which means your pipeline is versioned just like your code.

232
00:08:35,160 --> 00:08:37,440
You can see who changed it when and why.

233
00:08:37,440 --> 00:08:40,360
Stages let you break your pipeline into logical sections.

234
00:08:40,360 --> 00:08:42,280
Build, test, deploy.

235
00:08:42,280 --> 00:08:46,200
Approvals let you gate deployments so only authorize people can push to production.

236
00:08:46,200 --> 00:08:48,560
Agents are the machines that actually run your builds.

237
00:08:48,560 --> 00:08:51,760
Microsoft provides hosted agents, or you can run your own.

238
00:08:51,760 --> 00:08:53,360
Why does this matter for beginners?

239
00:08:53,360 --> 00:08:57,000
Because manual deployments are the number one source of production incidents.

240
00:08:57,000 --> 00:08:57,920
Someone forgets the step.

241
00:08:57,920 --> 00:08:59,280
Someone copies the wrong file.

242
00:08:59,280 --> 00:09:01,000
Someone deploys to the wrong environment.

243
00:09:01,000 --> 00:09:02,320
Pipelines eliminate all of that.

244
00:09:02,320 --> 00:09:04,200
They run the same way every single time.

245
00:09:04,200 --> 00:09:04,960
No human error.

246
00:09:04,960 --> 00:09:05,800
No forgotten steps.

247
00:09:05,800 --> 00:09:06,720
And they're fast.

248
00:09:06,720 --> 00:09:09,800
One team I read about saw their manual deployments drop from several hours

249
00:09:09,800 --> 00:09:13,160
to just 10 or 15 minutes after setting up Azure pipelines.

250
00:09:13,160 --> 00:09:14,480
That's not a small improvement.

251
00:09:14,480 --> 00:09:15,640
That's a transformation.

252
00:09:15,640 --> 00:09:17,760
So your code is built, tested, and deployed.

253
00:09:17,760 --> 00:09:19,240
But before you ship it to customers,

254
00:09:19,240 --> 00:09:20,720
you need to make sure it actually works.

255
00:09:20,720 --> 00:09:23,600
Not just that it compiles, but that it does what it's supposed to do.

256
00:09:23,600 --> 00:09:25,760
That's where Azure Test plans comes in.

257
00:09:25,760 --> 00:09:28,320
Azure Test plans, quality without the guesswork.

258
00:09:28,320 --> 00:09:29,320
So your code builds.

259
00:09:29,320 --> 00:09:30,960
It deploys, but does it actually work?

260
00:09:30,960 --> 00:09:33,560
Not just on your machine, not just the happy path.

261
00:09:33,560 --> 00:09:35,680
Does it work when someone types the wrong thing?

262
00:09:35,680 --> 00:09:39,480
Or when the network is slow or when a thousand people use it at once?

263
00:09:39,480 --> 00:09:41,160
That's where Azure Test plans comes in.

264
00:09:41,160 --> 00:09:45,000
Test plans is structured testing, a manual testing, and exploratory testing.

265
00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:47,120
Think of it like a pilot's pre-flight checklist.

266
00:09:47,120 --> 00:09:49,440
Pilots don't just get in the plane and hope for the best.

267
00:09:49,440 --> 00:09:50,400
They have a checklist.

268
00:09:50,400 --> 00:09:51,280
Check the flaps.

269
00:09:51,280 --> 00:09:51,960
Check the fuel.

270
00:09:51,960 --> 00:09:53,080
Check the instruments.

271
00:09:53,080 --> 00:09:55,480
Every single time because missing one thing can be catastrophic.

272
00:09:55,480 --> 00:09:56,840
Software is the same.

273
00:09:56,840 --> 00:10:00,320
A bug in production can cost you money, customers, and reputation.

274
00:10:00,320 --> 00:10:01,880
Test plans gives you that checklist.

275
00:10:01,880 --> 00:10:02,800
Here's how it works.

276
00:10:02,800 --> 00:10:04,200
You create test cases.

277
00:10:04,200 --> 00:10:07,240
Each test case describes a specific thing to test.

278
00:10:07,240 --> 00:10:09,680
Log in with a valid username and password.

279
00:10:09,680 --> 00:10:11,960
Try to log in with an invalid password.

280
00:10:11,960 --> 00:10:15,080
Try to submit the form without filling in required fields.

281
00:10:15,080 --> 00:10:18,000
Each test case has steps to follow and expected results.

282
00:10:18,000 --> 00:10:22,280
Your testers run through these cases step by step and mark each one as pass or fail.

283
00:10:22,280 --> 00:10:25,560
If a test fails, they can log a bug directly from the test case.

284
00:10:25,560 --> 00:10:29,680
That bug gets created as a work item in boards assigned to the right developer and linked

285
00:10:29,680 --> 00:10:30,840
back to the test.

286
00:10:30,840 --> 00:10:31,840
Full traceability.

287
00:10:31,840 --> 00:10:34,160
You can group test cases into test suites.

288
00:10:34,160 --> 00:10:36,320
Maybe you have a test suite for the checkout process.

289
00:10:36,320 --> 00:10:38,080
Another for user registration.

290
00:10:38,080 --> 00:10:39,480
Another for the admin panel.

291
00:10:39,480 --> 00:10:42,920
Then you organize those suites into test plans for different releases or sprints.

292
00:10:42,920 --> 00:10:46,160
You can see exactly what's been tested, what's passed, what's failed, and what hasn't been

293
00:10:46,160 --> 00:10:47,160
tested yet.

294
00:10:47,160 --> 00:10:49,360
The connection to boards is where it gets powerful.

295
00:10:49,360 --> 00:10:52,240
When a test fails, it creates a bug directly in boards.

296
00:10:52,240 --> 00:10:53,240
The developer sees it.

297
00:10:53,240 --> 00:10:54,240
They fix it.

298
00:10:54,240 --> 00:10:55,240
They push the fix.

299
00:10:55,240 --> 00:10:56,760
The pipeline builds and deploys the new version.

300
00:10:56,760 --> 00:10:58,160
The tester runs the test again.

301
00:10:58,160 --> 00:10:59,160
It passes.

302
00:10:59,160 --> 00:11:00,160
The bug gets closed.

303
00:11:00,160 --> 00:11:01,480
All of that happens inside one platform.

304
00:11:01,480 --> 00:11:05,200
No emailing spreadsheets, no copying bug reports between systems, it's all connected.

305
00:11:05,200 --> 00:11:07,000
I'll be honest with you.

306
00:11:07,000 --> 00:11:09,160
Beginners often overlook test plans.

307
00:11:09,160 --> 00:11:10,400
Testing feels like extra work.

308
00:11:10,400 --> 00:11:13,200
You just want to ship your code, you want to see it live.

309
00:11:13,200 --> 00:11:14,320
But here's the thing.

310
00:11:14,320 --> 00:11:17,960
Every single developer I've talked to has a story about a bug that hit production and

311
00:11:17,960 --> 00:11:19,360
caused the disaster.

312
00:11:19,360 --> 00:11:21,840
A payment system that charged customers twice.

313
00:11:21,840 --> 00:11:26,200
A login page that crashed under load, a feature that deleted data instead of saving it.

314
00:11:26,200 --> 00:11:29,800
Those bugs are always the ones that could have been caught with a simple test.

315
00:11:29,800 --> 00:11:31,040
This is cheap insurance.

316
00:11:31,040 --> 00:11:34,320
It takes a little time up front, but it saves you a lot of pain later.

317
00:11:34,320 --> 00:11:37,000
As your team grows, you'll run into another problem.

318
00:11:37,000 --> 00:11:39,040
You'll start writing the same code over and over.

319
00:11:39,040 --> 00:11:41,400
Utility Functions, login components, API wrappers.

320
00:11:41,400 --> 00:11:44,880
You'll copy and paste code between projects and pretty soon you have five different versions

321
00:11:44,880 --> 00:11:48,480
of the same thing, all slightly different, all potentially buggy.

322
00:11:48,480 --> 00:11:50,320
That's where Azure Artifacts comes in.

323
00:11:50,320 --> 00:11:52,640
Azure Artifacts share your building blocks.

324
00:11:52,640 --> 00:11:55,960
Azure Artifacts is a package manager for your code libraries and the best way to think

325
00:11:55,960 --> 00:11:58,080
about it is like Lego blocks.

326
00:11:58,080 --> 00:12:01,400
Instead of building every single piece from scratch each time, you grab pre-built blocks and

327
00:12:01,400 --> 00:12:02,520
snap them together.

328
00:12:02,520 --> 00:12:05,880
When someone on your team builds a logging library, they publish it to Artifacts and then

329
00:12:05,880 --> 00:12:09,160
everyone else can pull it into their projects with just one line of code.

330
00:12:09,160 --> 00:12:13,280
No copying files, no emailing, zip archives, and no wondering which version is the latest.

331
00:12:13,280 --> 00:12:15,560
Here's the Lego analogy in more detail.

332
00:12:15,560 --> 00:12:17,040
Imagine you're building a castle.

333
00:12:17,040 --> 00:12:20,760
You could carve every single brick by hand, which is writing everything from scratch.

334
00:12:20,760 --> 00:12:24,640
Or you could grab pre-made bricks and focus on the unique parts of your castle.

335
00:12:24,640 --> 00:12:25,800
And that's using Artifacts.

336
00:12:25,800 --> 00:12:27,240
The bricks are your shared libraries.

337
00:12:27,240 --> 00:12:30,920
The castle is your application and you still need to build the unique parts, but you don't

338
00:12:30,920 --> 00:12:33,280
need to reinvent the wheel every time.

339
00:12:33,280 --> 00:12:35,440
Artifacts supports multiple package types.

340
00:12:35,440 --> 00:12:41,000
You get for the neat, NPM for JavaScript, Maven for Java, Python packages, and Universal

341
00:12:41,000 --> 00:12:42,560
packages for anything else.

342
00:12:42,560 --> 00:12:47,120
You create a feed that's your private package repository and you publish packages to it.

343
00:12:47,120 --> 00:12:52,040
You set upstream sources so you can also pull public packages from Nuget, org or NPMGS.com

344
00:12:52,040 --> 00:12:53,280
through the same feed.

345
00:12:53,280 --> 00:12:54,280
Everything in one place.

346
00:12:54,280 --> 00:12:55,280
Why does this matter?

347
00:12:55,280 --> 00:12:58,320
It gives time, ensures consistency and manages versions.

348
00:12:58,320 --> 00:13:02,760
When you update a shared library, you publish a new version and projects that use it can

349
00:13:02,760 --> 00:13:04,000
upgrade when they're ready.

350
00:13:04,000 --> 00:13:07,000
They're not forced to update and they're not stuck on an old version because nobody can

351
00:13:07,000 --> 00:13:08,000
find the latest copy.

352
00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:09,560
It's controlled and organized.

353
00:13:09,560 --> 00:13:10,960
And it connects directly to pipelines.

354
00:13:10,960 --> 00:13:14,800
Your build pipeline can publish packages to Artifacts automatically and your deployment

355
00:13:14,800 --> 00:13:18,680
pipeline can consume packages from Artifacts so the whole flow is automated.

356
00:13:18,680 --> 00:13:23,560
Code gets built, tested, packaged, published and consumed, all without anyone manually

357
00:13:23,560 --> 00:13:25,080
copying files around.

358
00:13:25,080 --> 00:13:27,080
So now you've seen all five services.

359
00:13:27,080 --> 00:13:31,080
Boards for planning, repos for code, pipelines for automation, test plans for quality and

360
00:13:31,080 --> 00:13:32,560
Artifacts for sharing.

361
00:13:32,560 --> 00:13:35,320
But the real magic isn't any single service.

362
00:13:35,320 --> 00:13:37,080
It's how they all work together.

363
00:13:37,080 --> 00:13:39,760
Let me show you what that looks like in practice.

364
00:13:39,760 --> 00:13:42,080
The big picture, how it all fits together.

365
00:13:42,080 --> 00:13:45,960
Let me show you what this looks like in practice with a real scenario where a team is building

366
00:13:45,960 --> 00:13:47,800
a new feature.

367
00:13:47,800 --> 00:13:48,800
Step one.

368
00:13:48,800 --> 00:13:53,200
The product owner opens Azure Boards and creates a user story like, as a customer, I want

369
00:13:53,200 --> 00:13:54,880
to reset my password.

370
00:13:54,880 --> 00:13:58,840
They add acceptance criteria, assign it to the current sprint, set the priority.

371
00:13:58,840 --> 00:14:00,800
And that work item now exists in the system.

372
00:14:00,800 --> 00:14:01,800
Step two.

373
00:14:01,800 --> 00:14:05,560
The developer opens Azure Repos, pulls the latest code and creates a new branch from the

374
00:14:05,560 --> 00:14:06,560
work item.

375
00:14:06,560 --> 00:14:08,720
Boards even lets you do this directly from the story.

376
00:14:08,720 --> 00:14:11,840
The branch name automatically includes the work item ID.

377
00:14:11,840 --> 00:14:16,680
They write the code, commit it and in the commit message they include fixes number 142.

378
00:14:16,680 --> 00:14:17,920
That's the work item number.

379
00:14:17,920 --> 00:14:20,520
The commit is now linked to the user story in Boards.

380
00:14:20,520 --> 00:14:21,520
Step three.

381
00:14:21,520 --> 00:14:23,760
The commit triggers Azure Pipelines automatically.

382
00:14:23,760 --> 00:14:28,240
The pipeline picks up the code, restores dependencies, runs the build and runs unit tests.

383
00:14:28,240 --> 00:14:32,160
If any test fails, the pipeline stops and the developer gets notified.

384
00:14:32,160 --> 00:14:36,080
If everything passes, the pipeline deploys to a test environment and the developer can see

385
00:14:36,080 --> 00:14:39,680
their code running live before anyone else touches it.

386
00:14:39,680 --> 00:14:40,680
Step four.

387
00:14:40,680 --> 00:14:45,520
The QA Engineer opens Azure Test plans, finds the test suite for password reset, runs the

388
00:14:45,520 --> 00:14:50,040
manual test cases, follows the steps and verifies the feature works.

389
00:14:50,040 --> 00:14:51,600
But they find a bug.

390
00:14:51,600 --> 00:14:53,000
The error message is misspelled.

391
00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:57,360
They click Create bug directly from the test case and a new work item appears in Boards linked

392
00:14:57,360 --> 00:14:58,680
to the original user story.

393
00:14:58,680 --> 00:15:03,080
The developer sees it, fixes it, pushes the pipeline runs again, the tester reruns the

394
00:15:03,080 --> 00:15:04,640
test and it passes.

395
00:15:04,640 --> 00:15:05,640
Step five.

396
00:15:05,640 --> 00:15:10,000
The feature is done and the team publishes the shared authentication library to Azure Artifacts.

397
00:15:10,000 --> 00:15:11,920
Now other teams can use it in their projects.

398
00:15:11,920 --> 00:15:15,280
The password reset component is available as a package so any team building a new feature

399
00:15:15,280 --> 00:15:18,480
that needs authentication can pull it in with one line of code.

400
00:15:18,480 --> 00:15:20,600
No rewriting, no copying, just a reference.

401
00:15:20,600 --> 00:15:23,960
Once the connected building in action, each service is a room.

402
00:15:23,960 --> 00:15:28,860
Boards is the planning room, repos is the code library, pipelines is the factory floor,

403
00:15:28,860 --> 00:15:33,280
test plans is the quality inspection station and artifacts is the warehouse.

404
00:15:33,280 --> 00:15:37,400
But the real power isn't any single rooms, it's the hallways connecting them.

405
00:15:37,400 --> 00:15:41,160
The work item links to the code, the code triggers the pipeline, the pipeline deploys to test,

406
00:15:41,160 --> 00:15:44,920
the test creates bugs back in boards, the finish package goes to artifacts, everything

407
00:15:44,920 --> 00:15:46,120
talks to everything else.

408
00:15:46,120 --> 00:15:47,440
And here's where it gets interesting.

409
00:15:47,440 --> 00:15:49,400
AI is coming to Azure DevOps.

410
00:15:49,400 --> 00:15:52,920
Azure DevOps is already rolling out co-pilot integrations like work item assistance that help

411
00:15:52,920 --> 00:15:57,840
you write better user stories, AI that can summarize long discussion threads, and co-pilot

412
00:15:57,840 --> 00:16:00,800
code review that automatically reviews pull requests.

413
00:16:00,800 --> 00:16:03,000
It's still early but the direction is clear.

414
00:16:03,000 --> 00:16:06,680
Azure DevOps is becoming an intelligent platform, not just a collection of tools.

415
00:16:06,680 --> 00:16:08,160
So what's the best way to get started?

416
00:16:08,160 --> 00:16:10,600
You don't need to adopt all five services at once.

417
00:16:10,600 --> 00:16:11,680
Pick one.

418
00:16:11,680 --> 00:16:17,080
Start with boards, create a project, track a few tasks, and see how it feels.

419
00:16:17,080 --> 00:16:21,320
Then add repos when you're ready, then pipelines, one step at a time, your first step.

420
00:16:21,320 --> 00:16:22,800
So here's the core idea.

421
00:16:22,800 --> 00:16:26,640
Azure DevOps isn't five separate tools, it's one connected platform.

422
00:16:26,640 --> 00:16:30,360
Boards, repos, pipelines, test plans, and artifacts all work together.

423
00:16:30,360 --> 00:16:32,640
The value isn't any single piece, it's how they fit.

424
00:16:32,640 --> 00:16:37,200
Here's your first step, head to dev.azure.com and create a free account, then start a new

425
00:16:37,200 --> 00:16:38,200
project.

426
00:16:38,200 --> 00:16:42,560
Explore boards, create a user story, drag it across the Kanban board, see how it works,

427
00:16:42,560 --> 00:16:43,560
here's your challenge.

428
00:16:43,560 --> 00:16:45,880
Pick one small project, anything will do.

429
00:16:45,880 --> 00:16:49,760
Pack it in boards for a week, add tasks, update status, and see what it feels like to have your

430
00:16:49,760 --> 00:16:51,760
work visible and organized.

431
00:16:51,760 --> 00:16:53,600
Next episode will dive into Azure Pipelines.

432
00:16:53,600 --> 00:16:58,160
We'll build your first CI/CD pipeline step by step, and you'll see how to automate builds

433
00:16:58,160 --> 00:17:00,040
and deployments from scratch.

434
00:17:00,040 --> 00:17:03,040
Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform and share this episode with someone starting

435
00:17:03,040 --> 00:17:04,360
their DevOps journey.