Item: Azure DevOps
Rating: 7
Author: Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Azure DevOps

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Azure DevOps has been a central core component in our daily processes. We use it not just to hold the code we write, but also to have some automations during the code review process whether it is through the automated tasks that should run to validate work or if it is just by the automated replies from the bot. Azure DevOps can also be responsible for deploying our tools when the right pipeline is triggered - either manually or via some automated criteria.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Pipeline executions
Agentic code review comments
Code review process
Automated tasks
Build validation

Cons

The customization of Pull Request default messages
A manual trigger for the pipelines to only continue a pipeline when we explicitly want - instead of having something waiting for approval.
Dynamics on the arguments passed to a pipeline when manually running it

Return on Investment

Time saving with automated validations that run automatically for each pull request update
Continuous deployment of new releases based on some triggers or conditions
Automated comments from agents that are capable of identifying flaws in the codes
Code Coverage reports available through the web UI

Usability

Still have some of the concerning issues mentioned previously like the “waiting for approval” stage and the lack of having a custom default message for Pull Request messages that could be customized as wished.

Alternatives Considered

GitHub and GitLab

It is a similar tools with its pros and cons but does not really a differential - I would say it does the same but its own way, sometimes better, other times worst. It is a matter of preference or demands that come from superior decisions, so you just have to take it.

Key Insights

Do you think Azure DevOps delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Azure DevOps's feature set?

Yes

Did Azure DevOps live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of Azure DevOps go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Azure DevOps again?

Yes

Other Software Used

ReSharper, JetBrains Rider, CLion

Likelihood to Recommend

Not being able to customize the default pull request message is quite annoying given its simplicity it looks like to be. Also, having just a timed “waiting for approval” stage doesn’t sound ideal to me. It would be nicer to have a stage that can be triggered manually at any time after all the previous stages were completed. I mean, why do we need to have the pipeline waiting for something that we’re not likely to run unless we really want?

Comments

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Azure DevOps - good enough but can still be improved