When it comes to project management, most companies default to familiar tools like Trello, Jira, or Monday.com. These platforms are useful, but they often create silos — disconnected from your development work, operational workflows, or security standards.

Azure DevOps is different.

Originally built to manage the full software development lifecycle, Azure DevOps today has evolved into a powerful, flexible project management tool for all types of teams — not just developers. If you already operate inside the Microsoft ecosystem, Azure DevOps becomes an even stronger asset.

In this article, we’ll explore how DevOps works, what it offers, how it should be structured, and why it’s one of the smartest project management platforms available today.

How Azure DevOps Boards Work

Azure DevOps organizes work using a structured hierarchy:

• Epics represent major initiatives, often spanning multiple months or releases.
• Features break down Epics into smaller deliverable goals.
• User Stories describe specific business or user requirements.
• Tasks represent the actionable steps needed to complete a User Story.
• Bugs are work items created to track issues or defects that need resolution.

Teams can visualize these work items using customizable Kanban boards or Scrum backlogs. Each work item type is configurable to reflect your business processes, with status transitions, ownership, priority, and effort estimations.

Boards allow you to create iterations (sprints) or even more flexible planning cycles, allowing teams to visualize workload, track progress, and maintain a healthy workflow across initiatives.

How Many Projects Should You Create in Azure DevOps?

One of the most important strategic decisions is how many Projects to create inside Azure DevOps.

For most organizations, it is recommended to create one Azure DevOps Project and manage different workstreams or departments through Area Paths and Iterations within that project. This approach centralizes your reporting, user management, and process templates.

Only very large enterprises or organizations with completely different business units should consider splitting work across multiple DevOps Projects.

Keeping a unified structure with multiple Epics, Features, and Stories under one Project simplifies permission management, reporting, and cross-team visibility.

Managing Permissions and User Access

Azure DevOps allows granular permission management at every layer — Organization, Project, Area Path, or Iteration.

Instead of assigning permissions individually, it’s best to manage users through security groups. This makes onboarding, offboarding, and role changes significantly easier.

Different access levels include:

• Basic Access: Full access to Boards, Repos, Pipelines (license required).
• Stakeholder Access: Free access for users who need to view boards and submit work items but do not contribute to code repositories or advanced reporting.
• Advanced Access: Required for detailed Test Plans and advanced analytics features.

Most organizations will find that Stakeholders and Basic users cover the majority of roles. External users (contractors or partners) can be added but require proper licensing depending on their role.

Licensing Costs

Licensing for Azure DevOps is surprisingly affordable.

• The first five Basic users are free.
• Additional Basic licenses are approximately $6 USD per user per month.
• Stakeholder licenses are free with limited access.
• Test Manager access (for users who need advanced test planning) is around $52 USD per user per month.

If your organization is already licensed for Microsoft 365 and Azure Active Directory, integrating Azure DevOps is straightforward and extremely cost-effective.

Working with External Users

Azure DevOps supports collaboration with people outside your organization. External users can be invited securely using Azure Active Directory B2B features.

Keep in mind:

• External users still require a license if they need full project access.
• Permission scoping is critical — limit external users' access only to the necessary Areas and Repos.

External collaboration is a strength of Azure DevOps, but only when properly managed with governance in mind.

Understanding the Relationship Between Boards and Repos

Azure Boards and Repos work hand-in-hand but are independent modules.

When using Azure Boards alongside Repos:

• Every code commit, pull request, or build can be linked directly to a specific User Story, Bug, or Task.
• This creates full traceability between your work planning and your technical implementation.
• Teams can track progress not just by status changes on a board, but by seeing tangible deliverables attached to work items.

However, if you’re using DevOps purely for project management and not software development, you can completely ignore the Repos and Pipelines sections.

Dashboards and Reporting

Azure DevOps offers highly customizable dashboards to visualize project status and team performance.

You can track:

• Work-in-progress (WIP)
• Sprint burndown rates
• Epic and Feature progress
• Bug trends over time
• User velocity
• Lead time and cycle time metrics

Dashboards can be tailored to each team or stakeholder group, ensuring everyone sees relevant, actionable information. Azure DevOps also allows integration with Power BI for even deeper analytics and executive reporting.

Charts, trend reports, burndown charts, and custom widgets can all be pinned to dashboards for real-time project monitoring.

What to Do and What to Avoid When Using DevOps

Best Practices:

• Define a clear hierarchy for work items before starting any project.
• Use consistent naming conventions for Epics, Features, and Stories.
• Regularly review and clean up backlogs to avoid clutter.
• Train users on how to update and maintain work items properly.
• Set up automation for notifications and field updates to reduce manual work.

Common Pitfalls to Avoid:

• Creating too many Projects instead of managing through Areas.
• Skipping proper permission setup, leading to security risks.
• Ignoring the need for backlog refinement, causing planning chaos.
• Overcomplicating workflows with unnecessary states or transitions.

Conclusion

Azure DevOps offers one of the most robust, flexible, and cost-effective project management solutions available — especially if you are already operating within the Microsoft ecosystem.

With strong tools for work tracking, automation, collaboration, and reporting, it can easily replace fragmented toolsets while delivering full visibility across teams and departments.

At HarjTech, we help companies structure Azure DevOps properly from the ground up — ensuring that Boards, permissions, reporting, and user training are aligned to real business outcomes.

Whether you are scaling project delivery, modernizing IT operations, or replacing legacy project tools — Azure DevOps can be the platform that grows with you.