Microsoft Azure DevOps Reviews

We are using Microsoft Azure DevOps for project management using Azure Boards, CI/CD pipeline, repository, and test plans.

The most valuable feature of the solution is the pipeline. The solution integrates well with other Azure services and third-party tools.

The solution's roadmap and Gantt charts could be improved. We recently started using Azure Test Plans, and we're not seeing a lot of good dashboards in it.

I have been using Microsoft Azure DevOps for five years.

I rate the solution an eight out of ten for stability.

It is easy to scale the solution by increasing the number of agents. Our clients for Microsoft Azure DevOps are enterprise businesses.

I rate the solution a nine out of ten for scalability.

It took a few weeks for us to do the solution's initial setup.

Compared to other tools, Microsoft Azure DevOps is a cheap solution.

Microsoft Azure DevOps gives us an end-to-end solution. We could write the epics feature and user stories. From there, we could create the batches in the repository and create a pipeline to deploy. We can also use test plans to test different application scenarios. We are using Microsoft Azure DevOps as an enterprise-level solution.

Azure Boards have been good at improving our project tracking and agility. We are using the Azure repository, and it's working well for us. Microsoft Azure DevOps is deployed on the cloud, and we are using a Software as a Service (SaaS) version.

I would recommend the solution to other users because of its pricing and because it is an end-to-end platform for everything, including project management.

Overall, I rate the solution a seven 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.

We use the product end-to-end, from project management to CI/CD. We use the tool to create sprints and iterations, track bugs and issues, close down sprints, and have complete CI/CD pipelines end-to-end for all our branch's build releases.

The solution works smoothly. We have been using the tool for our projects since day one. It's easy to move around in the tool. All our projects are 100% on the cloud. Azure DevOps is an end-to-end solution. From project management to CI/CD, everything is connected. It speeds up our development and tracking.

The CI/CD feature is the most valuable for my team's productivity. All the features are helpful. The tool is helpful even in the test cases. We use Azure DevOps because it gives us everything in one product. Source control is useful. The tool enables us to track the projects end-to-end. We can track everything from the requirements stage to the production stage.

Azure Artifacts must be improved. When we do containerization or imaging, it is not friendly with Docker images. It might be because we are using open-source tools. There is no document that explains how to connect to Azure Artifacts when we're building a Docker container. 

The documentation must be straightforward. If we look online, it is very difficult to find or understand. The only way to connect to Azure Artifacts is to create a personal access token. Something doesn’t feel right with having the personal access token in the NuGet.config of our projects. However, it works fine.

I have been using the solution for 10 years.

The product’s stability is good enough.

The product is scalable. We have more than 40 users in our organization.

The setup is straightforward. Using the task and building the pipeline is not an issue. We spent a week trying to find out how to connect to Azure Artifacts. We need a normal .NET Core API and have the Docker file built. We must use a personal access token and keep it in the config files. It is not smooth enough.

The ROI is good enough. Once the system is set, we can focus on the core products.

We pay yearly licenses. The tool could be cheaper.

Microsoft Azure DevOps is the best choice because it is an end-to-end solution. Everything is integrated and trackable from every point. Right from my operations team to developers, everyone gets a clearer picture of everything. Overall, I rate the product a 9 out of 10.

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.

It's part of my new role as a DevOps engineer and the cloud engineer. We're migrating our on-premises applications to the cloud-based M365 platform, built on Microsoft Azure. That's the primary use case.

Azure DevOps supported our agile project's sprint planning and management. It introduced automation, which is still a little bit immature. But our previously manual tasks are now automated, and we've transitioned from deploying ITFAX applications to containerized deployments using images. These are just a few examples.

Moreover, Azure DevOps facilitated our team collaboration and tracking of work items in our projects. We've got the backlog, the boards, the item backlog items, you know, you can see what's approved by the product owner, what's on hold, what's in progress, what's developed and deployed to whichever environment, nine product or product and stuff like that. 

So, it's been visible for all to see, from my manager to product owners, technical product owners, developers, and testers; every stakeholder has visibility.

Ever since we adopted Azure pipelines, we saw faster releases. Something that would take us two or three weeks to deploy; we can do it in a couple of hours now. So, the primary benefit is definitely faster development and deployment cycles.

It boils down to - increased customer satisfaction. Quicker releases to testing and production environments - that's the benefit, that's the impact.

After each commit, the code automatically goes to Azure DevOps. We can then manually trigger the pipeline if needed. Once the pipeline successfully passes all tests, it deploys the new container image to production, replacing the previous one.

While I'm just gonna stick to Docker, it has really helped developers to confidently commit whenever they feel the analytics are okay to work. On their machines, it records any environment, unlike the old way where we had to click on our machines and then involve the operational team, which sometimes didn't work. With containerization, we already know all the application dependencies needed on the image. It's just one, OS or environment independent.

Moreover, we've experienced the general benefits of Azure Test Plans. One major improvement is the automation of tests. Once automated tests pass, the code progresses to the next stage, minimizing human error inherent in manual testing. This automation extends to reporting as well, providing clear and readily available results. In terms of reducing human error and streamlining reporting, I'd rate Azure Test Plans a ten out of ten. 

Additionally, detailed logs allow us to pinpoint the exact cause of any issues, making troubleshooting efficient and accurate. So, for both error reduction and insightful reporting, I highly recommend Microsoft Azure DevOps.

There is only one key area of improvement for me. The new imaging thing is that there is DevOps, where security is important because it is always lasting. So, to integrate security in our DevOps, that would be nice.

I have been using it for more than a year.

It is a stable solution. However, there is always room for improvement. I would rate the stability a nine out of ten.

It is a scalable solution. There are over a hundred end users in my company. Every IT hub uses it. 

The customer service and support were quick to support. Usually, we don't need the support. We google our query and easily find the solution on official Microsoft page. So, we hardly need any support. 

In my previous jobs, yes, we did use different tools. We had a separate team for DevOps team. There was even a "deployment specialist" who dictated deployment times and windows, which could be quite restrictive. So, switching to Azure DevOps has been a massive improvement.

The initial setup is easy. Once the code is committed and the developers sign off, we just go to Azure DevOps, click on "Pipelines," and run the pipeline. That's all, pretty straightforward.

The deployment can be done in-house. However, I was not involved in the deployment process. I'm utilizing it, and so far, it's easy for me.

The pipeline itself can be managed by one person. But when it comes to the entire Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC), from data requirements gathered by the business analyst, system analysts, solution architects, and so on. That part is still manual, it's not automated, and you can't just throw technology at it and expect a one-person team to handle it. 

However, for running the pipeline end-to-end, from CI to CD, Azure DevOps allows a single person to manage it. However, developing the application from concept to reality still involves a lot of stakeholders across Azure.

Overall, I would rate the solution an eight out of ten. I would strongly recommend using this solution. 

As an architect, I use Azure DevOps for our projects, primarily focusing on setting up CI/CD workflows. We track tasks and maintain timesheets on Azure DevOps. I collaborate with project managers to define deployment pipelines and ensure smooth deployment processes. While Azure DevOps serves as our project management tool, my main role involves architecting deployment strategies and working closely with the project management team to implement them effectively.

Switching to Azure DevOps initially posed challenges, but as our team became familiar with it, we found it greatly improved our daily operations and productivity. Its streamlined processes made our development workflow more efficient.

What I like most about Azure DevOps is how easy it is to manage projects and control deployments. Once configured, team members can manage deployments if they have permissions. Additionally, the reports feature helps generate itemized invoices for the services provided to clients, which is valuable for billing purposes.

One potential enhancement in Azure DevOps could be integrating more customizable reporting features, particularly for Power BI integration, to provide better insights into project data.

I have been working with Azure DevOps for five years.

Azure DevOps is quite stable.

Azure DevOps is scalable and can be used in distributed environments and for different tenants.

Before Azure DevOps, we used various tools like Jira. We decided to switch to Azure DevOps to have all services unified in one place, simplifying management. The main advantage is having everything centralized.

The initial setup process for Azure DevOps was somewhat complex, requiring documentation and technical support. Migration from previous tools and configuring project guidelines were involved. The deployment strategy involved creating directories, and repositories, setting up environments, and assigning access rights, following a predefined plan. Initially, deployment took about three to four hours, but now, for regular deployments, it typically takes 30 minutes to an hour, depending on project stability. 

For the initial deployment of Azure DevOps, gathering information from various resources is essential, but typically, only one person is needed to handle deployment through the web interface. Maintenance involves regular tasks like backups and occasional updates, requiring minimal effort.

The pricing for Azure DevOps may be higher compared to other tools, but overall, I find it reasonable.

In my experience, integrating reporting and analytics into Azure DevOps enhances project visibility and decision-making processes. We can easily generate reports online to track project status and task progress. Additionally, I have integrated Azure DevOps with other tools like SQL Server, enabling us to gather data for generating Power BI reports.

The most beneficial integrations with Azure DevOps are integration with other project management tools for seamless collaboration and APIs for importing data into applications. Additionally, integrating with personal models allows for enhanced analytics and reporting on resource performance and other project metrics.

The source control management features of Azure DevOps, particularly Azure Repos, are highly effective. We can easily track and manage code changes, commit updates, and maintain a complete history of changes for our applications.

I would recommend Azure DevOps to others. Before choosing Azure DevOps, I would advise considering the need for better project management, consolidation of management tools, and streamlining deployment processes.

Overall, I would rate Azure DevOps as an eight out of ten.

I work in a consulting firm responsible for adding, managing, and deploying government projects. We are using Microsoft Azure DevOps in one of the projects for backlog management, test planning, test execution, sprint planning, bug fixes, and enhancement requests. We use the solution for anything related to development testing.

The solution's most valuable features are backlog management, build release pipeline, and testing. They're easy, intuitive, and increase productivity. Usually, if you don't use such a solution, you end up using Excel. Then, you won't have shared documents, and there'll be no single source of growth. Everybody will keep a different document somewhere, and you will spend a lot of effort reconciling the latest status.

Using Microsoft Azure DevOps makes it really easy for us. Anytime you can see how many bugs are open, you can directly get it out of the tool. The solution's reporting is really easy. You can create ad hoc reports based on management requirements. If you are sitting in a meeting and somebody asks you the number of chain requests, bugs, or enhancements, you can create quick queries and show them the status. I think this directly affects productivity.

Microsoft Azure DevOps doesn't have an ITSM tool compared to its competitors. We also use Jira for another project, and Jira supports ITSM or ticketing. Since Microsoft Azure DevOps doesn't have this feature, we have to depend on another solution for service request management for support tickets.

The solution should include ITSM tools and security. DevSecOps are third-party security plug-ins that you can integrate with DevOps. Azure DevOps itself doesn't have anything out of the box. Enabling security so that the solution automatically starts checking things would be a really handy feature.

I have been using Microsoft Azure DevOps for three years.

We haven’t faced any issues with the solution’s stability.

I rate the solution a nine or ten out of ten for stability.

Since it's a SaaS solution, we haven't faced any scalability or performance issues, and we haven't struggled when we had a lot of users. We have gone through a curve. We started with around ten users. At the peak of the project, we had almost 50 users. Since we are in maintenance, we have come down to 10 to 15 users.

We use 100% of Microsoft Azure DevOps for our project. Everything is within Azure DevOps. If anybody says that we need to work on a feature, the first thing we do is create a DevOps item. So, we don't do anything outside DevOps.

The tool provides the features, but we haven't been able to onboard end users. We are a consultancy firm that works with system integrators and also engages with the end client. We have been able to onboard the system integrators, and we are also using it.

However, the end users still prefer sending emails and documents. If you send them a link to run a test script, they won't do it. So, the end users still prefer the old ways, such as emails and documents.

I rate the solution's scalability a nine or ten out of ten.

So far, we haven't faced any issues in terms of technical support. There is good documentation available if you are looking for support for configuration. So, you usually end up resolving your issues yourself. Since this tool is widely used, you can find help online. People are writing content about this solution, and Microsoft itself has good documentation.

On a scale from one to ten, where one is difficult and ten is easy, I rate the solution's initial setup a nine out of ten. The solution's initial setup is pretty easy, and the rollout is pretty quick. You can enable it and then keep on modifying and updating it.

It took us less than a week to deploy Azure DevOps. Since we were using a cloud environment, there was no infrastructure requirement. We went on Azure DevOps, created an organization, and then created a project. Inside the project, we selected the type of project.

There are different templates that you can follow, including the CMM-level approach or the basic approach. We selected one of the templates and copied the template. We made some modifications to the template for the project because that template is used for governing steps.

Then, we created depositories, which is pretty quick. In a week's time, we were up and running with backlog management. It took a couple of weeks to complete the automated build and deployment pipelines.

We needed one person to set up the project and one knowledgeable about the build and deployment pipelines. If you have a person who knows how to do the pipelines, you can also configure the project. So, one person is good enough to set up the entire project.

We have seen a return on investment with Microsoft Azure DevOps in terms of productivity because it really helps with the amount of time you need to consolidate reporting and planning. The status is always up to date, and the deployment is very streamlined. You can do the entire thing in Excel, but the overhead would be too much, and you would lose out on things. So, team synchronization and productivity are the return on investment with the solution.

I rate the solution’s return on investment a nine out of ten.

The solution's pricing is pretty cheap. The best part of the Azure DevOps and SaaS model is that there's no upfront cost. The tool has a per-user license. It's free for five users, and there is a price above five users. The solution's deployment and licensing costs are very cheap compared to those of its competitors.

The solution's pricing is not fixed. The solution's testing license is $50 per user. It's $15 for normal users who use backlog management. We have two people from the test team and seven from the other team. This is in maintenance.

Since we had a big testing team, we had 15 people in testing and 30 people in backlog management during peak time. You can say it has a 70:30 ratio. Most of the cost is in testing, and the backlog management is really cheap.

On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing a three out of ten.

Before choosing Microsoft Azure DevOps, we evaluated other options like Jira and HP ALM. Jira is good at ITSM and backlog management, but it is dependent on third-party tools for pipeline deployment.

It's too complex to do product management with HP ALM. It's a good ITSM tool, but the process it follows for product management is very stringent, which is not very flexible for sprint planning. There is too much overhead in HP ALM to do quick sprints.

We are working with the SaaS (Software as a Service) version of the solution, which is on the cloud. Since Microsoft provides the latest upgrades and patches, it should be the latest version.

We start by creating backlog items. Whenever we get a requirement, we log it into Azure DevOps and plan the backlog. The backlog includes what features we need to develop and what tasks we need to assign to each developer. Each developer is part of the DevOps. Once you have created that backlog, we assign it to different developers based on a sprint.

Suppose we are going to run a four-week development cycle. So, we plan the development cycle, pick a few items from the backlog, assign them to that sprint, assign them to the developer, and then manage the execution of that development cycle. Once that's completed, we will transfer it to the test team so they can test it in Azure DevOps.

They have test scripts that are documented in Azure DevOps. They run tests, record videos, and capture screenshots in Azure DevOps. After the test verification, we deploy the solution. In addition to backlog management and product management, we use Azure DevOps for build and release deployment. We don't manually go and build the software.

Our code repository is also part of DevOps. As soon as we check in the new code, Azure DevOps automatically builds the solution and then deploys it in the development environment. Once it's confirmed, the same is deployed to quality and production. We use the solution to do everything end to end, other than ITSM.

Specifically, Azure DevOps is integrated with deployment for us. When we manually deploy a solution, it's prone to errors. We use Azure for website deployment and Azure DevOps for Apple app or Google app deployment.

As soon as the approval is done in Azure DevOps, apps are automatically published. It will publish an app on the Google Play Store, Apple Play Store, and Azure, which we use for web hosting. So, it is integrated with web hosting, Apple Store, and Google Play Store.

The solution does not really need any maintenance. Once you enable the testing solution, you can start creating your test plans and test scripts directly. Every time you do a deployment, you just need to run those test scripts, which is pretty easy. It's more about creating your test script than configuring the tool. Even if I do it in Excel, I need to spend time on that.

The solution's analytics and reporting are pretty easy. We use them very often on an ad hoc basis whenever we discuss and plan what to deploy and what the next steps are. It's pretty easy, and we haven't faced an issue where we weren't able to take out any reports just by doing it on an ad hoc basis. It's pretty easy, and you don't need to write code or anything.

The tool is pretty flexible and easy to use. I suggest starting with the cloud version because you can create your project easily. Since it's free for five users, organizations with budget constraints can start playing with limited users. I would say start with the cloud-based version and start playing with it. Once you get comfortable with it, you can expand it for other projects. The tool serves a wide variety of use cases.

The biggest key trend these days is fast deployments or quick releases. Given how competitive the market has become, you need to keep on adding features to your product. Azure DevOps supports the sprint methodology, which supports fast deployment.

On top of that, it supports automated build release deployment. That was a headache when I started working. Sometimes, you forget a file when deploying in production, and your system will go down. The solution's features support the latest fast or quick deployment trend.

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

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.