Microsoft Azure DevOps Reviews

We're doing a full continuous integration (CI), continuous delivery (CD), continuous testing (CT), security, delivery, and monitoring.

We're currently using TFS 2013, TFS 2017, Azure DevOps Server 2019 update one, and Azure DevOps services, which is the SaaS cloud platform. I manage all of these.

It is deployed on Azure DevOps Server and Azure Services' private cloud.

They have been lately adding features to the services on a regular basis. Every two weeks, they are adding functionality to Azure DevOps Services to match it with what Azure DevOps Server or on-prem would offer. So, we continue to get more robust functionality.

My favorite right now is that they are starting to open up the API availability within Azure DevOps Services. 

Another thing that I like about Azure DevOps is that you can use it with any of the products that are on the market. You can integrate it with Jenkins and other open-source products to complete that fully functional CI, CD, CT, CM, and CS pipeline. It continues to enhance. 

We are currently in the process of moving all of our on-prem to the cloud platform. We are trying to make that move and host the majority of our DevOps services in the cloud because the cloud is where most of the things are going nowadays. However, the process of this transfer is not straightforward, and it could be a lot easier. Microsoft hasn't provided the maturity for migration tools. It could be a lot easier in that respect.

I want to see them continue to advance the API capabilities. They could add some more robust functionality to the administrative layer within ADO services. There are a lot of configuration elements that you need to take care of at the organization level and the project configuration level from an administrative capacity. When you're dealing with process templates and things of that nature, you have to do them all manually. Being able to automate some of that using scripts or API functionality would be really nice.

I have been using this solution for about nine years.

It has actually been pretty stable. Some of the early gen ones were not so stable. Before Microsoft started communicating with the end-users, they would make changes in the middle of the workday, which was a bit frustrating because things would change, which would impact the end customers because they weren't expecting that change. Microsoft wouldn't communicate with tenant administrators and tenant owners, but now, Microsoft has gotten a lot better about articulating their roadmap and communicating when those kinds of changes are coming down the pipeline. We are now able to communicate that out to our tenants and the end-users working within our projects. There is a lot better communication in that respect, which makes it easier for us to make customers aware of what might be coming, what is going to cause changes for them, what are the timeframes in which those things are going to hit their views, and what to expect from those things and additional functionalities.

For the cloud, it has been really good. For on-prem too, it is easy enough to scale out. TFS also has always been pretty easy to scale out.

In terms of the number of users, currently, we're in a transition because we were just acquired by another company. So, we're leaving our parent company, and we're going to a new company. The numbers that I have are in flux. Our current numbers are at about 600 for just our existing or old company. I've been asked to stop onboarding my users and projects until we move our current organization into our new operational tenant in the new company, but I'm projecting that we'll have between 2,000 to 4,000 people.

I use it all the time. They're very good when you get to the right queue. So, when it is working, it is great. I would rate them a nine and a half out of ten because I always think people have room for improvement, but they've been very good and supportive.

It works great for us especially now because we've kind of been divested from our old company to our new company. When we were with our old company, it was a little bit mired because of the way our enterprise architecture was. My requests didn't go to a North American team. It went to an EU team, and then I had to work within EU hours to get support, whereas I am in North America. That was a little tricky. Our old parent company was parented in the UK, Ireland, and Scotland.

I've used other solutions in tandem, and I have been an administrator for them. For example, I've used Jira and Confluence products, which is Atlassian. I've also used Remedy, but I'm not sure if they're still in the project management. I have also managed HP Performance Center and Tricentis. I've actually been administrating these for the last two years for this company.

I also use UCD, which is another very similar product. It does a lot of the same things and is also agnostic, just like Azure DevOps. You can use both of these with any of the products that are on the market.  

It is pretty straightforward on the administrative side, but I've been working with this technology for a long time. It really falls in line with the majority of Microsoft products. If you're familiar with the Microsoft stack, it follows their pretty standard setup. You go through a similar process. It is just about knowing the nuances that Microsoft has when you're doing a farm configuration or a farm setup and the recommended prerequisites before you get started.

If we're talking about new end-users who are going from an older version of TFS to Azure DevOps Server or Azure DevOps Services, there is going to be a bit of a delta because the technology is different. There is a slight learning curve. Of course, it has got fancier bells and whistles and a jazzier user interface. It has softer edges and things have moved from left to right. Things that you found on the left side have again moved back over to the right side for administrative or usability functions. Your security elements and the things that you used to see on the left side have again switched back to the right side. These are the kinds of nuances about which you would need to educate your end-users. You need to get them used to the boards and how to use those. If your company is transitioning from a CMI model to an Agile model, it is going to be very important for the folks who are administrating your projects and your project managers to know how to configure the projects themselves, how to use Teams, and how to use permissions. Security becomes even more important because a lot of that really influences how you see the information within your project, and how you manage your boards, your sprints, and the work items that you allocate to your scrums or sprint users.

As you're going through different stages of your project, you have your pipelines and repos where your more development-centric users are going to be. I try to allocate out two different kinds of users that we're going to have and target them when I'm educating my folks. You have a kind of power user, and you have your regular contributor user. It is important to make this distinction because there are folks who are going to be doing basic or just regular contributor work. They will just contribute to the work items that are on a board or within a sprint. You're also going to have users who need to be slightly elevated, which is going to be that basic plus test plan. You need to understand how those affect your subscription and billing towards that subscription and how to manage that when they're not actively using it. You need to monitor this and enroll them back to a stakeholder so that you're not constantly incurring costs against your pay-as-you-go subscription costs. Everything is pay-as-you-go once you get into the cloud.

I would ask those who are looking into implementing Microsoft Azure DevOps if they are already on the Microsoft stack of products. If they are, I would highly recommend them to use Azure DevOps Services or Azure DevOps, because they're already paying for that as part of their E-agreement. So, they should take full advantage of that because it is part of their licensing agreements. They should exploit what they're paying for because they are already paying a lot of money for Microsoft products.

Both UCD and ADO are the best products in the current DevOps space right now. They're both agnostic, and you can plug and play and integrate them with the majority of the tools in the market. You can integrate them with Jenkins and other open-source products, and open-source is where everything is going when you move to the cloud. Having that flexibility and viability within your company and business, no matter whether you're a small or large company, is a huge benefit. That will allow you to be flexible and deliver to on-prem or container.

Microsoft is extremely flexible, and they are listening to feedback and hearing what customers are saying. I've worked with Microsoft for almost 20 years now, but I took kind of a two-year sabbatical. Most of that time, I was developing out their SharePoint Online O365 platform. I stepped away for two years and then I transitioned over to DevOps because they really weren't taking feedback that was being provided by customers, and they were ignoring the customer experience, but their new CEO has kind of refocused Microsoft's outlook on the customer experience and is putting the priority back where it needs to be. They're doing a much better job in terms of incorporating feedback. They're continuing to advance and advent their product, and they are keeping ahead of and staying in touch with what technology is doing from a CI/CD pipeline perspective. This is why I am looking forward to continuing to use them.

I would rate Microsoft Azure DevOps a nine out of ten.

Previously, our DevOps operations relied on TFS and Visual Studio systems. However, with the rise of cloud computing, Microsoft introduced Azure DevOps, a comprehensive solution encompassing version control, reporting, requirements management, project management, and automation tools, including testing and release management capabilities. It integrates seamlessly with Azure services, facilitating the development and deployment of applications on the cloud platform. It supports the entire software development lifecycle, from development to deployment. For instance, when developing a project, it assists in the build, test, and release processes, ensuring smooth progression to higher-level environments. 

Additionally, it supports project management activities such as user story management. Its features include repositories for storing code, pipelines for automating processes, and environments for managing deployment configurations. 

The platform has improved our team's productivity in the versioning system within the release management functionality. Each application deployment is assigned its version. When certain features are unavailable or require enhancement in a deployment, Microsoft incorporates these improvements into the subsequent version of the release pipeline. 

They could provide clearer guidance on deployment practices for the product. Currently, two main deployment methods are available: YAML server deployment and release management using pipelines or Terraform. They should offer recommendations on which approach is the best practice for deployment.

We have been using Microsoft Azure DevOps for 5 years.

It is a stable platform. Being a cloud-based solution, it benefits from zone redundancy policies, ensuring continuity even if one server experiences downtime.

We have more than 35 Microsoft Azure DevOps users in our organization.

The initial setup process is easy.

The costs are moderate and justify the value provided. With Azure DevOps, we can easily track your projects, monitor statistics and reports, manage backlogs, and plan deliveries. We can manage larger teams under one platform.

The product documentation contains all the necessary information to get started with the platform and understand its evolving features. Additionally, numerous resources are available on platforms like YouTube, where various vloggers share valuable insights and tutorials on using Azure DevOps effectively.

I rate it an eight.

As a software development team, we use Microsoft Azure DevOps extensively across various functions. We rely on its capabilities for source control, enabling us to efficiently manage our codebase and facilitate collaboration. Additionally, we leverage Azure DevOps for test management, including the creation and execution of test cases and test plans. Furthermore, we utilize its features for project planning, tracking work items, and generating weekly documents to ensure smooth progress tracking.

Azure DevOps has been instrumental in facilitating agile project management and collaboration within our team. We extensively utilize all the features offered by Azure DevOps, enabling us to seamlessly handle tasks such as test management, project management, software defect resolution, and source code management throughout the software development cycle.

We are leveraging the capabilities of Azure Repos for our source code management needs, finding them highly advantageous for our workflow.

Azure Pipelines have significantly improved our deployment process by enhancing automation. We utilize Azure Pipelines to standardize our build process, ensuring consistency in our artifacts and maintaining high-quality outputs. Additionally, it has enabled us to enhance our testing procedures, leading to more efficient issue detection and resolution.

Azure Test Plans have significantly influenced the quality of our releases. Acting as our test engine, they have played a crucial role in ensuring the quality of our software. Post-release, all identified defects are thoroughly addressed, and developers are requested to provide corresponding test cases to prevent recurrence of issues.

Azure Port is considered the most valuable feature.

When comparing with Jira, I find that the task management capabilities in Azure DevOps are not yet fully comprehensive and should be enhanced.

We have been using it for three years.

It provides good stability. I would rate it eight out of ten.

I would rate its scalability capabilities seven out of ten. Currently, approximately ten individuals utilize the platform. However, we plan to expand its usage in the future.

The initial setup was fairly complex and time-consuming. I would rate it four out of ten. During the initial setup, we encountered the most difficulty with Microsoft's documentation. It proved to be quite lengthy and lacked clear guidance, which made the setup process challenging. Consequently, we had to explore various additional resources to ensure a smoother setup of Azure DevOps.

For our initial deployment, we allocated one DevOps engineer who dedicated approximately one and a half months to complete the setup.

The cost is quite affordable.

The initialization process may pose some challenges, but I find that the investigation aspect is handled quite effectively. Overall, I believe it's well-suited for both general and specialized DevOps use cases. I would rate it seven out of ten.

The most valuable aspect of the solution is the complete tool orchestration within the DevOps. It's great for operations, monitoring, and building tests for deployment.

I like the user interface. It's excellent.

The solution is easy to implement and easy to use.

We've been using their documentation seamlessly. It's been great.

I love it because we have Microsoft Exchange Office 365 and we have all those reports already in place (especially if you're using quality reporting). We get that as an add-on. It comes within the package, so everything is very compatible. The analytics on offer are also very good.

The solution offers great plugins and has great integration capabilities. It runs on configuration management tools like Ansible and Puppet. The monitoring they have for plugins is also excellent. 

Whatever you might need, they seem to have it.

We're quite happy with the tool right now. We're not really using it too much. We are also just starting on it, to be honest, so what we've needed so far we've found that it offers. There isn't anything missing that I can see. 

One thing I would note is that it's hard to know what is included or not in the product. Especially when you begin to try and compare it to other solutions. When you go to a site like VersionOne, they tell you Azure DevOps doesn't have this or that, and when you go to Microsoft, it says VersionOne doesn't have this or that. They could do a better job of laying out exactly what is on offer so customers know going in exactly what they'll get.

I've been using the solution for three years.

In terms of stability, I would say we have no problem with the solution. We have been using the tool for all of our projects and we have no problems with that aspect. If users use virtual missions when they run the testing, everything is even easier.

Scalability, at least for the time that we have been using the solution, hasn't been a problem. We are able to adjust and expand any time of VMs. Any organization that needs to grow its usage should be able to do so easily.

Currently, 40 people are using the solution for one of the projects we're running. We have whoever you could think of in an agile team on it. Everybody from the business analyst to the product managers, to the testers, to the developers, and even to business end-users are on it.

I'm not sure if our organization plans on expanding its usage in the future.

I've never personally had to contact technical support, and I haven't heard from anyone in my team about any negative results. I'm not sure if I'd be able to evaluate their services at this time.

We previously used Jira, however, we have not switched over completely to Azure DevOps. We now use both.

With manuals, the implementation is much easier. It is quite straightforward.

We are not doing any kind of maintenance on the solution. We don't need to because it's so fast. We are not paying for everything in terms of infrastructure development. 

I'm not sure about the pricing. It's not an aspect of the solution I currently deal with.

We're currently looking at VersionOne and CollabNet just to see how they compare to what we currently use, which includes Microsoft Azure DevOps.

I'm new to this company. I've been here only for a year. The previous company, I was using Agile Central, which I really liked because of the user interface. Central was previously called Rally. However, after coming to this company, as they have Jira, I've been using Jira and also, for this one project, Microsoft Azure DevOps. I need to begin considering what I should do at an enterprise level. I'm looking at a variety of options including Microsoft DevOps, VersionOne, CollabNet, and a few more. 

Since we have Microsoft Azure DevOps already in place, I would like something that's similar and competitive. 

I'm not sure which version of the solution we're using at this time.

I personally just love using Microsoft DevOps. I would recommend the solution to anyone. Organizations considering the solution should just go for it and they should get the complete orchestration.

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten. I don't think that I have explored everything extensively yet. Any product definitely will have its own gaps, and since I'm not in a position to understand it 100%, I want to play it safe on ranking it at eight.

My team uses this solution for the CI/CD deployment, and code check-ins.

We are also using Azure Boards for tracking our work, all of the requirements, the backlogs the sprints, and the release planning.

What I like the most is that it is easy to comprehend, and it's easy to use.

The simplicity is very good and the customer experience is also great.

I am not suggesting this solution should be cheaper. I would like to see a bucket of licenses. for example, 10 licenses or 100 licenses that could be monitored to know how many of those licenses have been used. The price would be deducted accordingly.

I should not have to contact Microsoft daily to request a license or two. There should be a mechanism in place where you are able to find out where you are out of 100 licenses, or that you have used 90 licenses in that year.

I should be given a credit line of 10 licenses at the end of the year or at the end of the month.

It should be easier to manage licenses, especially because it's in the cloud. You should know the usage and based on the usage, you should be able to make decisions.

I have been using Microsoft Azure DevOps for one year.

We are using the latest version.

It's a stable product. I have not experienced any issues.

This is an area that has yet to be explored fully. We haven't taken it to this level.

We are a team of 25 to 30 members, which is fine for us. Every time we scale up we need a new license and that takes time, it's not just a click and it's done.

I don't know if it will be scalable for 200 to 300 people.

Previously, I was working with Jira.

I was not involved in the installation. My team completed it.

Price is an area that could be improved. There are products on the market with a fixed price of 50 or 100 people, you are a bucket price. 

With Azure, you have to pay for every user.

It's good to have a bucket such as 50 to 100, or 100 to 200, and flexible pricing.

The issue may be from having more than one license. When you procure one license or two licenses, it becomes difficult.

It should be easier to procure a license, it should not be one by one. We don't know how many members I will have on my team three months from now.

We plan to continue using this solution.

I would recommend this solution, but I would not know their business needs.

Based on the various features, the deployments, licensing, pricing, and the customer experience, I would rate Microsoft Azure DevOps a seven out of ten.

Being a project manager, it is necessary to create sprint, and kanban boards for management decision-making and our product life cycle. We use the solution for sprint backlog creation and bug reporting for IT department fixation. The dashboard is an interesting feature with visibility on the pending due dates. 

Since using this software, we have revoked the usage of MS Office tools and prefer to instead use Azure.

Azure is one of the few project management software solutions that provide a clear view of project standing, and sprint of product backlog as well. 

As far as my organization is concerned, we use this software for managing the project life cycle where we raise change request forms here and the IT developer provides the solution and from there we can conduct the UAT and sign off for closure. 

The entire product life cycle is being managed with task assignments so broader and a clear understanding of scope is provided by this software and the organization can better understand its current progress.

The available Kanban board is the best feature for management decisions. The sprint capabilities of the product break down the feature and characteristics of the product into steps and if any step is pending we may forward it to the backlog. 

Microsoft Azure is an Agile methodology, so multiple steps can be performed by different user segments in order to achieve the scope smoothly. 

More features can be included. We'd like to see better Kanban templates and an audio-video chat facility. 

The bug reporting facility can be enriched; there is nothing to mark "passed" "failed" the test cases. 

The dashboard can be enriched. 

Related links must be visible on the dashboard for integration purposes. 

I've used the solution for the last two years.

The stability is good.

The scalability is good.

Customer service and support are good. 

Positive

We did not use a different solution previously.

The initial setup is a little bit complex.

We worked with the vendor.

We have witnessed a good return on investment. 

This is good software for a reasonable price.

We did not evaluate other options. 

Azure DevOps helps us automate building, testing, and deploying our code through CI/CD pipelines.

Valuable features for project management and tracking in Azure DevOps include a portal displaying test results, check-in/check-out activity, and developer/tester productivity. This portal provides options to view development and testing velocity effectively.

I don't see any major need for improvement in Azure DevOps. The only downside is that the deployment could be a little challenging but it is manageable.

I have been using Microsoft Azure DevOps for the last four years.

We have not had any stability issues with the solution.

Azure DevOps is highly scalable and fairly straightforward to scale as needed.

As a Microsoft partner, my clients range from medium to large organizations, with a focus on larger clients. However, I also serve some smaller life insurance companies.

I have received excellent tech support from Microsoft and I would rate them as a ten out of ten.

Positive

I have used Amazon and Micro Focus products in addition to Microsoft offerings, though the majority of my work has been with Microsoft. The main difference is in the documentation and available tech support, where Microsoft excelled with abundant resources compared to Amazon and Micro Focus.

Deploying Azure DevOps pipelines can be complex, but it is straightforward with careful planning and step-by-step execution. Challenges may arise from the multitude of options and design considerations, requiring expertise or guidance from experienced professionals. While there is ample learning material available online, structured examples could enhance usability by providing clearer guidance amidst the vast amount of documentation.

Microsoft's licensing and pricing for Azure DevOps are competitive within the market. While it may be expensive, it is almost the same as the pricing for comparable products in the industry. I would rate the pricing as a six out of ten in terms of costliness.

I prefer Azure DevOps over other solutions. I appreciate its intuitive YAML-based definition language and find its object model and configuration more intuitive than other systems.

We used Azure DevOps to collaborate on migrating a legacy banking application from a mainframe to a Windows platform. The project aimed to demonstrate the feasibility of migrating legacy banking systems.

Azure Repos improves code version control and collaboration by providing a centralized repository for source code. It enables multiple developers to work on the same project, track revision history, and merge code changes efficiently, essential for collaborative development environments.

Using Azure Test Plans significantly improves software quality by enabling structured test planning and automation. This ensures that code is thoroughly tested, enhancing solution integrity and mitigating risks associated with code implementation.

Integrating Azure DevOps with other tools and services is straightforward and intuitive. I found it easy to integrate monitoring and other tools with Azure DevOps.

Before implementing Microsoft Azure DevOps, new users should be aware that it is a complex software requiring careful planning and design. Conduct a proof of concept to ensure it meets your needs, and engage specialists to design your environment accordingly. Additionally, be prepared for a cultural shift in utilizing the tool effectively.

Overall, I would rate Azure DevOps as a nine out of ten. I always recommend it to all of my customers.

We use Microsoft Azure DevOps as a code repository, for task and work management, software tests, and documentation.

The most valuable feature of the solution is task management.

The solution could be made faster because it can be a little unnerving to browse through too many pages and press too many buttons.

I have been using Microsoft Azure DevOps for six years.

Microsoft Azure DevOps is a stable solution.

I rate the solution ten out of ten for stability.

Microsoft Azure DevOps is a scalable solution. In my current company, around 30 users are using the solution. In my previous organization, more than 100 users were using Microsoft Azure DevOps.

The solution makes you faster. You can organize your work in an easy and shared way. You can configure different types of access to allow some people just to read and to be able to modify some things. Since the solution gives you all the benefits of Git, you have a commit history.

We have an MPN subscription for Microsoft Azure DevOps, and it's all included.

Microsoft Azure DevOps is deployed on the cloud in our organization. The product supports our agile project management practices very well. We can configure a process, and it would give you some different types of tasks, like the epics feature, user stories, and tasks. We need very little staff for the solution's deployment and maintenance.

For source control, we use Git repositories that are perfectly integrated into our IDE, Visual Studio 2022. Everything is available, and we can create or pull requests from Microsoft Azure DevOps. We can also manage, reject, and accept the requests. I would recommend the solution to other users.

Using Azure Boards for tracking work items and bugs is clear and visually appealing. It's easy to add tasks. In our current configuration, every time I go inside the tasks and go back using the browser, it doesn't redirect me to Azure Boards, even if I am coming from there.

Since the solution is available as Software as a Service (SaaS), you won't need to do any setup, installation management, etc. It's very straightforward, and there is no particular study required. To a certain degree, the solution is configurable and can suit different use cases. It is working very well in terms of Git repositories. Microsoft Azure DevOps is also very accessible.

You can define tasks using Microsoft Azure DevOps and then reference them when you write a commit message or push code. You can open a previous commit in the browser from Visual Studio, and you can use DevOps to compare some files or to check commits done by Visual Studio. So, the solution is perfectly integrated.

Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.