ALM Rocks!

Welcome to ALM Rocks! This site is dedicated to information around Application Lifecycle Management, with a strong emphasis on the Microsoft tooling available in that space.  As such, you will learn a lot about Visual Studio and Team Foundation Server, but you’ll also learn about different ALM practices, as well as DevOps.

Mickey Gousset is the lead blogger at ALM Rocks!  He has held the title of Microsoft Most Valuable Professional in Application Lifecycle Management since 2005, and has written several books on the subject, including his latest, . Mickey also writes the Inside TFS column for the Visual Studio Magazine website.  You may recognize him as a speaker at major conferences around the world, where he talks on ALM, TFS, and different System Center products.

So lets answer some questions about the site:

Hey, didn’t this site used to be called Team System Rocks!?

Why yes, yes it did.

What happened?

Well, when Microsoft released Visual Studio 2010, they retired the Team System name.  I kept the domain running for a couple of years (and in fact it redirects back to this site now).  But without the Team System brand name, it didn’t make sense to keep the site as is.  So I created almrocks.com to be its successor.

What happened to all the daily lists of blog posts?

I used to try and aggregate all the information in the blogosphere around Team System into daily links.  But I don’t do that anymore.  Mostly because of time.  Unfortunately for me, I’m not able to read as many blogs as I used to, and its harder and harder to keep the list going and updated.

Well, with no lists, what can we expect to see?

I’m glad you asked.  I’ve got great plans, including blogging real blog posts every week, as well as providing videos on the YouTube channel.  I’m planning on covering not only the Visual Studio and TFS products, but also other ALM methodologies.  As well, I plan to dive into the Developer-Operations (DevOps) space, looking at the integration between TFS and the different Microsoft System Center products. I also plan to review software, books, etc… related to those spaces.

What about tweeting?

I’m planning on doing that as well, either under my personal handle (mickey_gousset), or with one designed for the site, if I can find a good one (unfortunately, almrocks is taken, so I’m open to suggestions).

What’s the deal with the ads and the sponsors?

Running a website does take both time and money.  I plan to use revenue from the ads and sponsors to pay for the site costs, as well as things such as giveaways for readers, shipping costs, etc.  I’m not looking to make a ton of money off the site, just enough to cover costs.

What do we do to be a sponsor?

Email me at and we can talk.

Wait a minute, did you also write a book?

I did.  Several actually, though the latest is .  You can see it linked on the right side of the blog.  Click through and check it out. You won’t be disappointed.