What are milestones in project management?
Milestones are a kind of checkpoints that help to track progress. They allow the team and the project manager to understand that the movement is going in the right direction.
For example, a milestone can be considered the creation of an application prototype, signing a contract, etc. The fulfillment of certain tasks preceded each of these events.
The 4 main functions of milestones:
1. Controlling. Milestones can be used to see where the work is at in the process. You can also use them to make assumptions about whether the team will be able to finish the work within the deadline;
2. Corrective. Milestones help to track problem areas and adjust actions to avoid critical errors in the future;
3. Showing. Not every investor needs to know about the fulfillment of milestones. However, it is important to inform him about the achievement of a milestone: this way the interested person will understand what stage the development is at. He will also know that everything is going according to plan;
4. Inspirational. As soon as a new milestone is reached, the whole team has a reason to celebrate. This is how working on long-term projects turns from tedious to interesting and stimulating involvement of the whole team.
How to properly set up Milestones for a long-term project
Project planning involves setting goals, objectives, and milestones.
The goal is the result the team is striving for. To achieve it, you need to break down the entire journey into stages and tasks, i.e. activities that must be completed in a certain amount of time.
Milestones are key checkpoints that can coincide with the main stages, such as the beta testing stage.
The important thing is that, theoretically, milestones do not have a duration as such. They are just markers that will show the team how far they have come and how much further they have to go. Tasks and milestones have a duration. However, of course, it directly affects the time to reach the milestone.
If tasks are pushed back, it takes longer to reach the next milestone. If tasks are completed faster than the deadline, the milestone is closer.
Steps for implementing Milestones:
1. Set a goal
To set it, you can use the SMART method that we talked about earlier.
2. Think through the steps to achieve the goal and the objectives for each one
Each milestone and task should have a deadline. In project management, it is recommended to set a longer time for each stage, not an ideal time.
People get sick, documents take weeks to sign, and mistakes happen. Some backlash will reduce the psychological pressure on team members and increase their motivation.
3. Think about milestones
To understand which events will be project milestones, identify for yourself what influences the outcome you are aiming for.
If it is difficult to identify milestones, consult with your team. Try not to spread the milestones too far apart. At the same time, don't create too many Milestones either.
It's important to find a balance where reaching milestones is a valuable incentive, but not so challenging that you have time to burn out.
If the project lasts several months, a comfortable interval to reach a milestone is two to three weeks.
4. Make a timeline
On the timeline, mark all the goals, milestones, objectives, and categorize the milestones according to them.
5. Prepare the documentation needed for the project
If employees need documentation to complete a certain task, prepare it right away. This way, employees don't have to spend time trying to find the supervisor's comments and requirements document.
6. Show the timeline to all employees
It's important that everyone understands exactly what their milestones are. Talk about Milestones and may even define rewards as they are achieved.
Effective methods for tracking progress in project management
1. Use of charts and timelines
Specific timelines for each of the tasks help to organize teamwork.
The presence of charts and graphs helps to reduce conflicts within the team. For example, the RACI matrix helps to improve interaction between responsible persons for each of the tasks.
2. Regular reports and checkpoints
The need to report back is what drives employees to fulfill the work plan. Milestones are like towns on a highway that you have to pass through before you reach the end point. It is important to monitor the traffic and mark the distance traveled.
3. Use of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
KPIs can be used to measure progress. Having specific performance indicators helps to assess the quality of the team's work in an unbiased way.
4. Checking and adjusting milestones
Milestones are defined at the project planning stage. If in the process of implementation some of the milestones turned out to be not so important and, for example, new, more important milestones appeared on the horizon, the Milestones can be adjusted.
Tools for setting up and tracking Milestones
There are several tools that give you the ability to manage projects and track milestones.
1. Asana
- Ability to manage team projects;
- ease of adding tasks;
- easy control over task fulfillment.
2. Trello
- Ability to create boards for each project participant;
- tracking of task fulfillment;
- planning of task fulfillment.
3. Microsoft Project
- the ability to create project tasks;
- the possibility of teamwork;
- organized overview of tasks with timing of their execution.
4. Voiset
- creation of new tasks using AI;
- automatic distribution of tasks based on the workload of team members;
- ability to set milestones and track their completion;
- real-time updates;
- easy adjustment of milestones when task deadlines shift.
Integration of calendars and notifications
One of the key ways in tracking milestones is to integrate calendars and notifications into your project work.
How the implementation of calendars and notifications helps to plan and control the achievement of Milestones using Voiset as an example
1. Notifications in Voiset
- A team member receives a notification about the task assigned to him or her and the time to start working on it;
- You can customize notifications for individual work: receive reminders about deadlines, overdue tasks, milestones reached, etc.
2. Calendars in Voiset
- Allow you to set the exact timing of each task;
- Organize schedules across all work areas into a single, easy-to-understand scheme, taking into account when each task is due;
- Show each team member's workload when assigning tasks;
- Allow for easy adjustments to milestones if task deadlines/ milestones/ interim goals change.
When we are traveling on a highway from point A to point B, we can get tired on the way, especially if it is a long one. Objectives like, “drive three hours at 50 miles per hour” shape our journey.
Checkpoints are the cities we must pass on the road. How we complete the tasks determines how quickly we get to the checkpoints - these cities.
Tracking our progress regularly lets us know we're moving in the right direction.
Implement Milestones to stay on track. And to keep track of all milestones and move toward your goals at a high rate of speed, use Voiset.
