Project Milestones
Project milestones are a “zero” duration event that can significantly impact the project. In other words, a project milestone is an event that the project management and main stakeholders want to be aware of because it has a big impact on the project. A milestone can be, for example, the end of a phase or the completion of an important deliverable.
When controlling the schedule, milestones have a significant impact because they help to identify dates that must be controlled. The role of project management, regarding milestones, is to plan target dates for reaching those milestones. This way, it’s easy to control if the project is progressing as expected, about each milestone. On the other hand, if we are controlling milestone by milestone, we can also have an idea of the overall project progress. If the project is in line with all milestones, it will probably end on the planned date. In other words, using milestones will help management and other stakeholders to quickly see and get feedback regarding project progress.
The project manager should always compare the project evolution with the plan to see if it’s necessary to take corrective or preventive measures. The project milestones can be a big help in this analysis. If the project is not able to fulfill milestone dates, it most probably needs those corrections.
Milestones can be defined in big or small projects. However, they are more commonly defined in long projects where is much easier to lose control over the project. These “small flags” will help to follow the progress of the project in the middle of the way.
Example of a project milestone
Imagine that you are participating in a trail in the middle of a forest. If someone hadn’t put some flags in the middle of the way, you would probably get lost. And also, you know that you have to see a flag every 2 miles. You also know that it takes you between 45 minutes to 1.5 hours to hike those 2 miles. If after 2 hours you don’t see a new flag, you know that you are lost. It’s the same with milestones in the project. If you don’t define milestones before the project starts, you don’t know the way. After defining them, you know that on a specific date, you should have all the work necessary to reach the milestone done, and if it’s not, you know the project is late.
Finally, if your milestones indicate the end of a phase, this may help the team focus on the objective. People will also get a sense of direction because they know they have to go in that direction to reach the milestone.
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Select the Appropriate Milestones
At the beginning of the project, project management must identify milestones that are related to the project deadline. This work of identification should be done in collaboration with management and the client. Project management should allow project stakeholders to point out events they would like to monitor and control. When defining the schedule, some project milestones can also be defined. Project milestones are related to each project, so there is no formula or a predefined list of milestones that are the same for every project.
When choosing project milestones, the project manager, management, and stakeholders must have in mind that the milestones should help to monitor the project and see as soon as possible if something is not right. So, the project manager should define milestones throughout the project. Finally, they should be relevant events and not “nice” events.
Why use Milestones?
The main purpose of project management is to facilitate project management tools and practices to the project manager so they can fulfill their work: guide a team until the project goal. Milestones and milestones charts are one of those tools.
Decompose the Project into Smaller Objectives
When the project is big or very big is difficult to see deviations if the horizon is very long. The milestones allow you to break the project into smaller periods, where it will be easy to see deviations. It is also easier to motivate the team if they see that the milestone is near them if the end of the project will take months to achieve. Big pieces of work can hurt the team, and demotivated teams are the worst a project can have. Small victories will increase the motivation of the team.
Track Project Progress
Imagine that you must go from Paris to Copenhagen. The distance between these 2 cities is more than 1200km. To get from Paris to Copenhagen, you need to cross Belgium, Holland, and Germany at least. If you plan just a direct trip, it will look like a never-ending trip. But if you divide the trips into smaller trips like, for example, Paris to Brussels, Brussels to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to Hamburg, and finally Hamburg to Copenhagen, the trip will look much easier to fulfill.
Besides, imagine that you have an appointment in Copenhagen. If you plan your trip in just one step, you will only know if you get late when you arrive, and there is nothing you can do. If you divide the trip and plan a day to arrive in each city, if you get late, let’s say in Amsterdam, you can call your appointment in Copenhagen to ask for a postponement, or you can simply decide not to slip in Hamburg to arrive in Copenhagen earlier.
Like with the trip, breaking the project into small steps will help to find out if we are late and take measures. It will also motivate the team because reaching a milestone (city) is a victory and means that we are moving near to reach our goal. Like with our example, milestones will avoid bad surprises like not being able to arrive at our appointment on time and only learning when we arrive. The intermediate points will give an idea of how things are going and how the project is progressing.
Difference between Project Milestones and other Project Management Concepts
For many people, milestones, deliverables, activities, work packages, and phases are the same. But they are not! Let’s find out the differences between them.
Let’s start by distinguishing milestones from deliverables. Deliverables are the output of the project work that can be verifiable. For a project to be complete, it can have one of the multiple deliverables. The project manager can define a milestone for the same date that a deliverable must be complete, but it is not mandatory. But they are not the same.
Let’s continue by distinguishing work packages from milestones. Work packages are a logical organization of work that helps to make the project more manageable. The project team can decompose a deliverable into work packages and then assign them to an organization unit.
Next, let’s distinguish milestones from activities. Activities are actions necessary to complete a work package. For example, to deliver a report, the project manager must collect information, organize the information, analyze the information, and write the report. The activities are the 4 things he must do to deliver the work package, in other words, the report. Activities are actions that take time, not work packages. So you need to define the activities to know how much time it will take and how much money it will cost.
Finally, let’s see why milestones are not phases. The team can divide the project into phases. These phases are related to the nature of the project and make planning much easier. The project manager can establish a milestone for the end of the phase, but it is not a rule.