Milestones in Project Management (Definition & Examples)

On this article we’ll unpack the idea of venture milestones and their place in venture administration. We’ll ask…

And we’ll additionally check out the right way to use milestones in venture administration instruments like Venture.co.

What’s a venture milestone?

Venture administration milestones are any essential occasions that mark the progress of a venture.

Historically, within the days earlier than GPS and complex street networks, ‘milestones’ have been fairly primitive stone indicators that lined widespread routes and suggested travellers how far they have been from their vacation spot.

In brief, they broke the journey up into smaller chunks – reassuring the traveller that they have been nonetheless on the suitable route. And, so long as they stored passing milestones, they’d arrive at their finish vacation spot.

And that’s precisely the job venture milestones do now: they’re vital occasions within the venture timeline, packing containers to tick, secure within the data that – in the event that they get accomplished – the venture itself will likely be accomplished efficiently.

What’s the distinction between milestones and duties?

Venture milestones are sometimes confused with duties – however there’s an essential distinction.

Duties are the person, granular actions that should be accomplished so as to obtain a milestone. We might illustrate the best way tasks, milestones and duties work collectively as follows:

Some venture milestone examples would possibly embrace:

Inside every milestone you possibly can see there could possibly be any variety of particular person duties. However what’s essential to know is that milestones are the issues that signify ‘momentum’ in our venture and preserve issues shifting ahead to completion.

With out monitoring milestones, it out of the blue turns into far more tough to evaluate progress and be certain that the venture schedule stays heading in the right direction.

Advantages of utilizing venture milestones in venture administration

We’ve already touched on a number of advantages of this technique however let’s dig down into three particular advantages of utilizing milestones in venture administration:

1. Monitor and talk progress

Venture milestones are an effective way to measure – and talk -a venture’s progress to stakeholders. They can be utilized to measure venture progress, establish dangers, and monitor dependencies so that you get a a lot clearer image of the place issues are as much as at any given time, and might preserve your group and purchasers within the image.

2. Establish issues early

The saying that ‘you possibly can’t enhance what you don’t measure’ rings actually true as a venture supervisor. Milestones are an excellent apparent approach to measure a venture’s progress. Common check-ins may also help you establish potential issues early on – and reply accordingly with adjustments like allocating additional assets. Milestones additionally assist you to establish and forecast delays and issues extra precisely – so you possibly can talk these to your stakeholders. Delays and issues are clearly much less disruptive and damaging once they’re accompanied by loads of prior discover.

3. Optimised likelihood of success

There’s by no means a assure of success however milestones finally assist to make sure that a venture stands the absolute best likelihood of being accomplished on time, inside price range and as much as normal. They cut back the chance of tasks veering off track and preserve everybody on monitor.

Monitoring venture milestones in Venture.co

One of the simplest ways to trace milestones in Venture.co is by utilizing our highly effective ‘Duties’ performance.

Begin by creating your venture with just some clicks, giving it a reputation.

Invite all of the individuals who should be concerned within the venture:

Then, add the ‘Duties’ to your venture.

For those who haven’t already, take a while to interrupt down your venture into the varied milestones you want. Perhaps jot these down on a bit of paper and get them straight in your thoughts: What are the staging posts alongside the best way to venture success? What are the ‘occasions’ that have to occur, the ‘deliverables’ that should be delivered, and when? Every of the milestones you scribble down needs to be created as Duties in your Venture.co venture.

These duties may be allotted to individuals, dates may be assigned and recordsdata may be uploaded, amongst different options. Every process additionally has its personal chat feed for individuals allotted to that process to debate and collaborate on it. You can too create checklists so the person ‘duties’ inside every milestone may be labored by way of.

Schedule examine ins and progress studies to maintain on prime of your venture milestones. And use our highly effective Process views to watch, measure and handle capability, progress and workload all through your group. You’ll be able to even use drag-and-drop performance to maneuver issues round in seconds.

Thanks for studying

Venture milestones are like your mates: they remind you the way far you’ve come and offer you one thing to have a good time. However in contrast to your mates, venture milestones don’t get drunk and make dangerous selections – until, after all, you’re the venture supervisor. Wherein case, all bets are off.

Significantly, for venture managers, milestones signify an essential a part of the general venture plan. By setting clear milestones all through a venture’s life cycle, after which conserving on prime of them at each venture part – just like the milestones of outdated – you can provide your self the absolute best likelihood of constructing regular progress alongside the proper street, so that you don’t find yourself within the flawed place on the flawed time.

Lastly, and maybe most significantly – keep in mind that venture milestones offer you one thing to have a good time! In any case, whenever you’re engaged on a long-term venture, it’s simple to get slowed down within the day-to-day grind. Milestones offer you an opportunity to step again and admire all of the exhausting work you and your group have put in.

So get on the market, create a Venture.co account and hit these milestones! Your venture – and your sanity – will thanks for it.