In continuing with our discussion of enterprise agility, this topic looks more closely at the movement between Microsoft and IBM. Specifically looking at the Microsoft Visual Studio Team System and IBM Rational Suite - IBM Eclipse with the newly added RUP component and restatement of their best practices.

Earlier we have discussed IBM’s movement in the process arena with their open sourcing part of the RUP framework to the Eclipse Project and their recent restatement of the six software best practices. In those discussions, I postulated that IBM was responding to the gained strength in the agile community and was looking to restate itself as a leader in helping align a truly unified process. Well, I believe there is more to the story.

Microsoft is finally getting its act together on their Visual Studio Team System with their Team Foundation Server. With a vastly improved change management system, new work item tracking, team build and integration services, and test case management with unit testing and code coverage – Microsoft is finally bringing a solid development process toolset on the field.

One that could easily challenge IBM’s Rational Suite with their Team Unifying Platform (which includes RequisitePro, Rose XDE, Test Manager, ClearQuest ClearCase, RUP, etc.) One could easily surmise that the Microsoft Visual Studio platform will be better integrated that Rational’s collection of tools which was developed through a series of acquisitions during the late 1990’s. Even though it has been many years under a single roof within Rational, the varied Rational tools have distinct architectures and designs which have limited their ability to provide true integration.

Secondly, Microsoft has been quietly adding process frameworks into their Visual Studio Team System. Microsoft Solution Framework (MSF) for Agile Software Development and MSF for CMMI Process Improvement are two such frameworks that are available. While they may not have the depth of a RUP process framework – from an agile perspective where barely sufficient process is desired – their light touch may be spot on for those seeking a light weight alternative.

Now we begin to see a more well rounded picture of IBM’s movement in the process community. Open Sourcing a simplified version of RUP to the Eclipse platform together with a restatement of their six best software practices looks like a move to beat Microsoft to the punch when they deliver their next release of Visual Studio.

I enjoy a good chess match. Feel free to comment on what moves you are seeing in the industry that are impacting the agile community.