Project Milestones

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What are project milestones?

A Milestone in project or program management is a scheduled checkpoint that marks the completion of some major deliverables, work packages or phase. A milestone by definition has a duration of zero and no effort. There is no work associated with a milestone. It is like a flag or signal in the work plan to signify that some work has completed. But any milestone is linked with a stage of the project which requires different resources.

Before a milestone is realized, its status is typically represented as red (problematic), yellow (attention) or green (on track).

Milestones are typically defined at the start of a project as part of project planning.

Examples of Milestones

Typical milestones are: idea validation, pre-design validation, detailed design validation, prototype validation, supplier choice, supplier initial samples validation, process implementation, customer validation, production start, completion, endorsement or signing of a deliverable, document or a high level review meeting.

Applications and Use of Milestones

It is used to validate how the project is progressing and to revalidate work. It is also used as high-level snapshots for management to validate the progress of the project. Often, there is a decision that needs to be made at a milestone regarding the future of a project.

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