Get feedback

Go here to open the Visual Studio 2015 version of this topic.

Once you have working software, you're ready to get feedback from your stakeholders. You can ask reviewers to provide videos, screenshots, type-written comments, and ratings. Their feedback is captured into work items that you can review and use to create a bug or suggest a new backlog item.

Request feedback

To request feedback, you fill out a form that generates an email request to your stakeholders.

1. From the home page in Team Web Access (TWA) (such as http://myserver:8080/tfs/DefaultCollection/MyProject), start a feedback request. If you don't see a link to Request feedback, then request that you be added to Advanced access level in TWA.

   

   Note

   If your team project was upgraded from a previous version to the current version of Team Foundation Server, you’ll have to update your team project using the Configure Features wizard.

   If the following message appears, you need to configure an SMTP server.

   

2. Add the feedback reviewers. If you don't see the names you want in the browse list, grant them permissions to provide feedback.

   

3. Tell your reviewers how to run the app they'll be reviewing.

   

4. For each area of interest, decide what type of feedback you want. Set the context for the reviewers by providing enough background information. Add up to four more areas of interest with the add feedback item link.

   

5. Send the request.

   

Provide feedback

Reviewers launch your application and provide feedback through the free Microsoft Feedback Client.

1. Reviewers who don't have Visual Studio 2012 or Visual Studio 2013 installed can download the feedback client directly from the feedback request they receive.

   

   Or, they can go to the Visual Studio 2013 download site.

2. Reviewers start the feedback session.

   

3. They launch the app to review from the feedback tool.

   

4. They begin providing feedback.

   

5. Reviewers can add screenshots, comments, and file attachments, and even record the feedback session. Results show up on the lower part of the screen. In this case, you can see the comment that the stakeholder wrote after attaching the screenshot.

   

   Security Note
   Unless you stop recording, everything is recorded—all steps that you take as well as anything you say. If you provide sensitive data such as user names and passwords, you will capture this information in the recording. However, you can always delete a recording by deleting the image for the recording session that appears in the feedback tool’s text box.

   To record audio on a remote computer, see Enable audio capture.

6. Reviewers can modify or even delete parts of their feedback, such as a recording, before they submit their feedback.

   

Review feedback

1. Open the Feedback query.

   

   Or, create a feedback query with the parameters, as shown.

   

   You should see a list of all active feedback responses for your team project.

   

2. Open a response item and play or save a recording.

   

3. Or, you can create a bug or backlog item linked to the feedback.

   

With the TFS feedback experience, you can engage stakeholders frequently to provide continuous feedback. Interacting with your working apps, your stakeholders can record rich and actionable data that TFS automatically stores in the form of video or audio recordings, comments, and annotated screenshots. You can then take action on each feedback response by assigning it to a team member or creating bugs or backlog items to the linked feedback.

Q & A

How do I change the audio device or annotation tool the client uses?

A: You can change the audio device or annotation tool using the change settings icon on the Microsoft Feedback Client.

How do I provide feedback when I’m working from a remote machine?

A: If you access the Microsoft Feedback Client from a remote machine, you can enable remote audio.

Where can I download the Feedback Client?

A: From here: Visual Studio 2013 download site.