Microsoft Process Template

The Microsoft Process Template (MPT) is a template that has been developed to accurately reflect end to end product development at Microsoft.  The template includes six work item types and they are organized in an hieratical nature to represent the relationships or work as it moves from planning down through the execution phase. 

Keys to Successful Project Management
    Clear set of goals and priorities
    Team and individuals goals aligned to the product goals
    Priorities are adequately resourced
    Ownership and accountability for the related work is clearly defined
    Use a simple and consistent set of engineering practices and tools
    Dependencies and risks are identified and mitigated
    Project status is transparent throughout the release cycle

Organization
Determine your project name. This should be something unique to your group and associated with the component you are working on. For example: Messenger, Windows Client, Office14, and so on.  We recommend creating one project per business group/organization. For example all of office and windows utilizes one project.

Area
Your team needs to determine how to organize your work. We recommend that AREA hierarchy is used to show what components your team is working on.  To modify the Area you must be an administrator. In team explorer right click on your project – Select Team Project Settings – Select Areas & Iterations

Iteration
Iteration should be used as the milestone designation. The milestone schedule is a top-down schedule that establishes timeline for the project release and key interim project deliverables and mid-cycle releases. It helps teams understand project expectations, status, and commitments. All the work should be scheduled and fit into the milestone schedule. For teams that are on more frequent release cycles they can show releases as well as sprints in the iteration hierarchy as shown in next figure: