The role of a project manager is not an easy one. They need to focus on various aspects of a project, and often things can go wrong if they are not adept at multi-tasking or taking note of key elements of the project. Many project managers tend to break their projects into smaller segments which makes it easier for them to monitor and track all the progress. When each of these segments is achieved, it is nothing short of achieving a key milestone in the project.
In this post, we will look at a project milestone, some of its benefits, examples of project milestones, and best practices to follow while creating project milestones.
Table of Contents
What is a Project Milestone?
A milestone can be described as an important phase or a specific point in the project’s lifecycle which helps determine the project’s progress. The project milestones play a vital role as they display the key events of your project and help project managers to outline the project’s progress. Apart from being used as an effective way of measuring progress, project milestones also work as great boosters, especially when you have projects lasting for a couple of months.
Remember that project milestones are not as same as your project tasks. A milestone usually refers to deliverable due dates, midpoint progress checks, start and end dates, project phases, etc.
Benefits of Using Project Milestones
Here are some of the key benefits of using project milestones.
- Monitor Deliverable Deadlines Easily – Every project has its share of deadlines, and keeping a track of these deadlines can sometimes be overwhelming. One way to stay on top of them is to turn these deadlines into project milestones. This is beneficial for the project manager as well as the team members as they will have a high-level view of all the key dates and deliverables. Make sure to recognize the milestone to instill a sense of achievement within the team.
- Project Schedule – Apart from the deliverable deadlines, a project manager also needs to stay up to date on various other key dates that can impact the project. For example, you might be expected to attend a board meeting, or the entire team is scheduled for mandatory training, etc. By highlighting such key dates into milestones, it will enable project managers to look for workarounds early on so that the project is not impacted in any way.
- Identify Project Bottlenecks – There are several factors that will impact your project’s progress; these factors can be internal and external. When it comes to external factors, such as client approval or receiving documents from the client, it is important to track them so that you can better prepare yourself and the team against any potential project bottlenecks.
Examples of Project Milestones
Typically, it is up to the project managers to define the items they want to capture and treat them as milestones. However, there are common project milestones that can help you if you are still new to the process of creating project milestones. Some of these examples include:
- Project Approval – This is a key milestone that is achieved when the stakeholders and project sponsor sign off on the project plan and the statement of work. This indicates that the project is ready.
- Requirements Review – Before the work on the project begins, you need to gather all the requirements, document them, and get it reviewed by the project sponsor and stakeholders. This is an important milestone as achieving it means that you can now begin working on the project.
- Design Approval – If your project requires any type of design – website, graphic, product, etc., you can highlight the design approval as one of your project milestones.
- Project Phase Milestones – One good practice to follow is to set a milestone for each of your project phases, i.e., initiation, planning, execution, controlling, and closing. Setting these milestones will help you determine the progress being made and ensure that the project is ready for the next phase.
- Final Approval – Once the project is completely developed, it requires final approval from the stakeholders and project sponsor. This is another key milestone that should be highlighted.
Best Practices for Creating Project Milestones
Every project is different, and what works for one project manager may not work for another. Hence, there is no definite way to create and set project milestones. However, there are some best practices that you can follow to ensure that your project milestones are effective.
- Project Scope – Make sure that you establish the scope of the project before you start working on creating the project milestones. This is because you need to have a clear idea of the project goals and deliverables so that your milestones are aligned with them.
- Project Planning Stage – It is recommended that project managers use the project planning stage to select their key project milestones. Having a discussion with the team during the project planning stage will ensure that everybody is on the same page and agrees to the chosen milestones. This can be later communicated to the stakeholders.
- Project Requirements – When working on complex projects, it can be difficult for project managers to set all the milestones that will guide their project lifecycle. The best option would be to use the project requirements and priorities. You can check the requirements to outline the key requirements and set your milestones against them.
- Project Lifecycle – While setting up the project milestones, ensure that they are spread across the project’s lifecycle. So, milestones at the project’s beginning, middle, and end are preferred. This will help you remain on track and have visibility over the project right from the start to the end.
- Project Progress – As your project progresses, several changes may be made from what was initially decided. If that is the case, you must adjust your project milestones accordingly.
- Project Management System – Project management systems have become quite common today, so make the best use of them by setting up a dashboard in the system to track, manage, and monitor your project milestones.
Conclusion
Setting up project milestones is beneficial in several ways, from helping project managers track and monitor the progress being made to keeping the team members motivated. Creating and setting up project milestones should be treated as checkpoints that will ensure their timely and successful completion. Today, there are several project management software that makes it really easy for project managers to not just set their project milestones based on the project but also track and monitor them.
You can check out some of the top project management software on SaaSworthy!
