Microsoft Certification 70-498 Delivering Continuous Value with Visual Studio 2012 Application Lifecycle Management

Problem: Passing Microsoft Certification 70-498 Delivering Continuous Value with Visual Studio 2012 Application Lifecycle Management

 

Working with Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) is something that has always interested me – It means the world for quality, work satisfaction and stakeholder happiness. Following my latest certification at Microsoft I decided to explore the ALM subject a little more and came across this little promo video for Visual Studio from Microsoft:

http://microsoft.com/showcase/en/us/details/0d912020-7315-4e72-ab6b-cdc8be52a307

This video explains why it is worth looking into ALM.
 

Solution: Study ALM as a concept and explore Visual Studio.  

 

Microsoft Learning really have some nice pointers to materials for studying – Check out the links under preparation options.

This is how I prepared myself for the exam:

• I had a look at the Microsoft Learning and printed the study guide (skills measured section).
• I watched the Channel9 videos – Approximately 6 hours of video with great educational value, not to mention fun as the presenters are really great!
• I Browsed http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/eng/alm for information on how MS runs ALM in Visual Studio.
• Work with projects in Visual Studio – We use the web version, and knowing your way around in there should do the trick. I printed many screenshots, and filled those with notes, that helped me remember details on the Visual Studio tool.

Tips that I found useful:

• Having just taken the certification 70-497 – Some of the questions revolve around testing and QA, making it possible to reuse that knowledge. Otherwise spend a little time on the testing / QA topics, Channel9 can give you some video materials if needed.
• Waste reduction is important to understand, especially faster feedback and cycle time. Tools like PowerPoint story boarding and Feedback Client can help with this.
• Understanding Scrum as a process is essential – I got that for free, being a certified Scrum master, but if you are not familiar with the process, check this out: http://www.scrumguides.org/

What I learned from completing the certification:

• Reading Cumulative Flow Diagrams, decoding things like; Cycle time, Lead time and understanding the impact of WIP items.
• How to get the most of the abundant information recorded when using MS Visual Studio as a tool for application development.
• Link between the methodologies for software development and how the process are supported in Visual Studio.
• Tools for tweaking our projects – Something I look forward to using in the future.

 

Have a nice day & Happy testing!

 

/Nicolai