I'M FORTUNATE TO BE SURROUNDED by ALM MVPs who make my life much easier. Brian Randell and Martin Hinshelwood, thank you for taking this journey with me. You both have created some amazing content in this book, and it is much better for it. And we are even closer friends because of it. Mike Fourie, I just don't know what to say. You are the most amazing technical editor I have had. You have the ability to point out all the things I missed, without making me look bad. And your depth of knowledge is astounding. Anthony Borton, thank you for all your help and assistance with the book. To our editors Bob Elliot and especially Tom Dinse, thank you so much for keeping us on track and schedule, and working with us when “stuff” happens. Tom, you are an amazing editor that I would write a book with anytime. And finally, to Amye, Emma (14), and Meg (10), thank you for putting up with my schedule and my late hours in getting this project completed. I could not have done it without your love and support.

—Mickey Gousset

WITH THE MANY CHANGES IN THE LAST SIX MONTHS I don't know where to start or why I agreed to write a book of all things. I want to thank my parents Anne and John for helping me settle back into Scotland (it was quite a shock after three years in Seattle), without you guys I would not have been able to start my own business. My wonderful kids Evangelina (6) and Kaiden (4) for their patience and distraction from the world around us, you make it all worth it. Finally I want to thank Mickey Gousset and Brian Randell for putting up with my newbie questions and issues, and Mike Fourie for taking it easy with the technical editing.

—Martin Hinshelwood

FIRST, TO MY DEAR FRIEND MICKEY for asking me to join him. We keep finding new ways to have fun. To Mr. Hinsh, I've enjoyed getting to know you better and look forward to many more friendly exchanges; exchanges only friends have. Mr. Keller, I still think fondly about first working with you when you were a Product Manager and the fun we had on your first tour of duty outside the Unites States speaking. Congratulations on being a husband and father, it suites you. And to Mr. Woodward, what can I say mate? I only wish Ballycastle were up the road for me too. That said, every visit we have is warm and wonderful no matter what part of the globe we're at. All four of you made this book better and I thank you for having me on the journey. Thank you to everyone at Wrox especially Bob Elliot, Tom Dinse, and Kezia Endsley. Your editorial guidance and continued pokes as well as catching all the little things, got this book done in fine shape. Thank you. To our technical editor Mike Fourie, you continue to amaze me with your work ethic and I know the book is 100 times better due to your keen eye. And I can't leave out my dear Aussie friend Anthony Borton, who took on the job of “one more read” before we published to make sure we didn't write something stupid. Thank you. Of course, any errors are those of myself and my co-authors. Throw stones our way.Beyond those who were directly involved in the project, I have a few people I must mention who have influenced my writing and general geekiness. To my business partner Ken Getz—you've done more for me than you'll ever know. I'm a better human because of you. Thank you. To Dave and Barbara Brady who gave me my first “computer” job. You gave me more than a job. You put me on the path to a career I love. Thank you. To Ian Griffiths, you're an inspiration to work with but a better friend to break bread with—I look forward to more fun in the future. To Matt Nunn, from our first fun in Australia to the wonderful solutions we've built, it's been great working on the “art of the possible.” To Jon Flanders, I know at your wedding you said you still didn't like me. That's OK. I'll take what I can get. And to Mr. Brian Harry. It started with Visual SourceSafe. You wrote that automation interface one summer and I was lucky to work with you. Your work ethic inspires as does your dedication to customer and craft. Thank you for always being there.To my first set of co-authors on my first published book: Dr. Joe Hummel, Justin Gehtland, Jason Masterman, and Ted Pattison. Gents, there are times in your life that you wonder what you were thinking. That book hurt, but everything has a purpose. I said never again but I did and the lessons learned helped. Beyond that book however, all of our teaching together, the Guerilla events, and all the other “fun” continues to warm my heart with great memories when I think of each of you.All the things I know about Visual Studio and TFS come from hard work and having a cadre of wonderful people to answer questions. This includes two special groups to me: Microsoft employees in DevDiv and the Microsoft ALM MVPs. Over the years countless e-mails, IM conversations, and phone calls have been exchanged as well as many wonderful face-to-face conversations (even the ones that were loud). Thank you. I can't thank you all individually, but I do want to highlight a few in particular from Microsoft working on ALM and TFS, including Doug Seven, David Starr, Larry Guger, Grant Holliday, William Bartholomew, Rob Caron, Chuck Sterling, Chris Patterson, Peter Provost, Buck Hodges, Aaron Bjork, Justin Marks, Jamie Cool, Jeff Behler, Ed Holloway, Ed Blankenship, Ewald Hofman, Matthew Mitrik, Philip Kelley, Chad Boles, Sean McBreen, Tracy Trewin, Will Smythe, Ravi Shanker, Vijay Machiraju, and Subrahmanyam Veera Mandavilli. To my fellow MVPs, you're all wonderful, I'm lucky to have you as peers and thank all of you for your help but in particular want to call out Jeff Levinson, Neno Loje, Richard Hundhausen, Adam Cogan, Ben Day, David V. Corbin, Ognjen Bajic, Thomas Schissler, Jesse Houwing, Dylan Smith, Richard Banks, and Jason Stangroome. Anyone not mentioned directly and forgotten, I'm sorry.Finally, I need to thank my dear, lovely wife. You are my best friend. Even though you told me not to write the book, you supported me when I did. Our house is a home because of you and I am a lucky man to find you here every time I come home from a trip. I see you in the eyes of our children and that brings more joy than I would have ever imagined over twenty years ago when we first met.

—Brian Randell