I received some questions in email. I'm posting them to the forum so
that the community can comment on and/or correct my responses.

Cheers,
Geoff

1. How can I create a single release 1.0 plan for the entire development
effort?

To create a plan over several teams and several iterations, you would
create a Release Plan ... open up the "advanced options" when you create
or configure a plan, and you'll see your list of options (the name of
those plan types can vary, as they are defined by the process
configuration of your project area).

2. What is the value, if any, of making the Shared team a parent of the
Dev and External teams? In particular:
2.a. Will the members of the Shared team automatically include the
members of the Dev and External teams?

It's the other way round ... a member of a parent team with a given role
is automatically given that roles in all of the child team areas.

2.b. Can I create a plan for the Shared team that will automatically
include the plans that are associated with the Dev and External teams?

That's not really one of your choices. You really only have 3 choices
(specified in the "advanced options" when you configure a plan)
- an iteration plan: for a single team for a single iteration
- a team plan: for a single team for all iterations including and after
a specified iteration
- a release plan: for all teams for all iterations including and after a
selected iteration

3. What are the recommended best practices when setting up and reporting
on a matrix structure?

Unfortunately, that is not well supported by the current plan
mechanisms. To deal with a matrix structure, you'd need to use reports
and queries, not the built-in plan mechanisms.