Planning and Tracking Projects

Successful projects often have the following characteristics:

  • The needs of the users drive the project.

  • The team creates a high-level plan for delivering the project.

  • Development is iterative, with the plan refined over time.

  • The team has effective tools for adapting to inevitable changes.

Planning and Tracking Projects

By using Visual Studio Application Lifecycle Management (ALM), you can manage user needs more effectively. You can create a high-level plan that breaks your project down into potentially shippable increments, and you can create detailed plans to execute shorter iterations in which you develop those increments.

Because you develop detailed plans at the start of each iteration, these plans encompass less uncertainty, especially as the project progresses.

When your team finishes each iteration, you can refine the high-level plan based on what you might have learned during the iteration. You can also replan any work that was not completed.

Your team can use Visual Studio ALM and apply an appropriate process template to plan, develop, and track your project iteratively. If you are starting a project and must decide which process template to use, see Choose a Process Template.

Process Guidance

For specific information about running your projects, see one of the following topics:

If you use a process template that is not listed, you might find associated guidance on another site.

Related Help

You can use any one of several clients to access Team Foundation.

Working with Team Foundation Clients

You manage user stories, requirements, tasks, bugs, and other work items in the system for tracking work items. Each type of work item is customized to a particular process, but many of the basic principles and practices are common.

Tracking Bugs, Tasks, and Other Work Items

Your team project holds all of the information about that project that you are working on. In some situations, you must track more than one team project.

Scheduling Tasks and Assigning Resources Using Office Project

You can customize your team project to meet your team's specific needs.

Customizing Team Projects and Processes

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