azure devops services pricing microsoft azure

kpowerRecently there was a servo motor project that made people scratch their heads. Several old guys in the team, debugging and debugging, writing code and writing code, all have their things piled up on their respective computers. Today you change a parameter, tomorrow he updates a version, sends files back and forth, and if you mess up once or twice, the whole morning will be gone. The email is filled with various attachments, and the file names are all "final version", "most final version", and "really unchangeable version". Let alone looking for things, I feel dizzy just looking at them.

Isn't this just a mess? For those who make hardware, the work at hand is already very detailed. If software management adds to the chaos, even the best servo design will be slowed down. We were wondering if there could be a place where we could organize the code, documents, and progress together, just like tidying up a toolbox, with each wrench and each screw having its own grid.

Then we came across Azure DevOps Services. At first, I wondered, would this thing be too "cloudy"? Can those of us who deal with steel and circuits use it?

After trying it, I realized that it's not that mysterious. You can think of it as a particularly smart shared workbench. Your code base is securely placed on it, and it’s clear who changed which line and when. No longer do you have to shout around the world: "Who changed the PID parameters I adjusted yesterday?" The build and release pipeline sounds advanced, but in fact it means that you set a set of actions - such as automatically compiling and testing as soon as the code is submitted - and then it is like an assembly line, automatically running for you. With the time saved, you can tighten a few more screws and measure two more sets of data.

What about the price? To be honest, we looked at the pricing page over and over again at the beginning. How does this thing count? Will it be expensive? After using it for a while, I realized that its per-user and per-month approach is actually quite friendly to small and medium-sized teams like ours. You don't have to buy a big machine and put it there at the beginning. You can use it as much as you want. When five people use it at the beginning, they pay for five people. As the project gets bigger, the team is added, and the team is gradually added. It's a bit like using electricity. You only pay when you turn on the lights, rather than buying a power plant. This is a lot of peace of mind for controlling project costs.

Some guys asked, isn't this just a tool for writing code? How does it have anything to do with us working on machinery? The relationship actually lies in the word "collaboration". For one of our projects, the structural engineer drew the drawings and produced a three-dimensional file; the circuit engineer designed the driver board and generated a bunch of Gerber files and BOM tables; the software engineer wrote the control and created a bunch of codes. These scattered things must be assembled into a moving robotic arm or car. Azure DevOps Services is like a central dispatch room that connects the work on these different tracks. When a design is updated, relevant test tasks can be automatically reminded to the corresponding clerk. If a problem occurs, it can be quickly traced back to which link or version change caused it. This improves the "physique" of the entire project and makes it less likely to "get sick".

Besides, its dashboard function is quite intuitive. Each task is a card, drag it from "To Do" to "In Progress" and then to "Complete", and the progress of the entire project can be seen at a glance. You can get a rough idea of ​​who is working on what and where you are stuck without having to hold a meeting. This reduces a lot of communication troubles for people like us who often need to stare at the laboratory and computer screens at the same time.

So you see, the core of choosing such a tool is not to follow any technological trend. We have to see if it really solves the old problems of "chaos" and "dispersion". Can the team focus more on real creations such as mechanical structure and motor response debugging, instead of wasting it on finding files and waiting for each other? The other is to see whether it can grow along with the project. It can be used smoothly when working on small projects, and it can survive complex projects. Don't let the tool itself become a new bottleneck. Of course, one has to make clear calculations to see whether the money invested can be saved from improved efficiency and reduced errors.

existkpower, we feel that this account is worth it. It makes the workbench tidier and the gears of collaboration turn more smoothly. Now if someone in the team passes a document around, everyone will make a joke: "Hey, are you throwing things on 'that table' again?" and then look at each other and smile. Tools, that's how they should be. Using them becomes a natural part of it, silently supporting you from behind, allowing you to focus more on thinking forward.

Established in 2005,kpowerhas been dedicated to a professional compact motion unit manufacturer, headquartered in Dongguan, Guangdong Province, China. Leveraging innovations in modular drive technology, Kpower integrates high-performance motors, precision reducers, and multi-protocol control systems to provide efficient and customized smart drive system solutions. Kpower has delivered professional drive system solutions to over 500 enterprise clients globally with products covering various fields such as Smart Home Systems, Automatic Electronics, Robotics, Precision Agriculture, Drones, and Industrial Automation.