Simon Thorneycroft and Jonathan Hodgson

Bungie.net Technical Case Study: How, Where, What?

Sometimes MSDN has some really interesting content over and above the API reference documentation you expect, like the Extensive Examination of Data Structures series, Introducing Custom Entity Classes and Bungie.net Technical Case Study.

The Bungie.net technical case study talks through the background, business drivers, technical approach, project planning, solution architecture, test approach and execution & operations architecture; it's a really good overall story of the process from start to finish.

In the section on the development approach they mention,

The Bungie.net team used an agile, milestone-driven approach to the construction of Bungie.net, initially focusing their attention on the most significant architectural elements. The Bungie.net team worked in a close physical area, relying upon constant and continual communication between peers, yet able to employ expertise when required specifically during the requirements and design phases and later on when significant technical challenges were uncovered. The Bungie.net developers also worked extremely closely with the testers to ensure effective communication and fast defect resolution velocity. Having a strong test team was essential to making this site work.

and also describe some of the tools they used, including SQL Compare which I've mentioned before and BeyondCompare - however for file/folder comparisons I tend to prefer Araxis Merge.