I was working on a software enhancement project which consisted of a large team of 15 people. Since the team was so big and mostly comprised of fresh graduates, communication became a huge problem. Due to this, the team did not meet the mid-way deadlines for the go-live of a component within the software. After the mishap, the project leader introduced Microsoft TFS to the team which allowed us to input daily activities and keep track of the SLA’s, etc. It also allowed to keep track of each member’s performance within the team. This tool is very powerful as it has many other functionalities which made communication within the team extremely smooth.

A proper communication plan was not laid out during the planning phase. If TFS was introduced right in the beginning, the mishap would probably would not have occurred. In conclusion, planning phase is very crucial as it gives sort of a map for the team to follow.