Historically a milestone was a stone marker for a mile on a route. Today a milestone refers to a significant marker or point, for example it might be an achievement or an important date or an important point in project or initiative. stakeholdermap.com
In Project Management milestones are key points in a project lifecycle. They might be target dates that must be met or delivery of important work packages or markers of progress - the completion of a phase or stage. stakeholdermap.com
In project schedules specific symbols are used to denote a milestone. For example, in Microsoft Project a diamond shape is typically used.
Typical Milestones in a Project
Milestones are an important way to measure progress (time and cost) and create a sense of urgency. Typical milestones in project management could be:
As you can see what is considered a milestone will vary between projects, industries, sectors, methodologies, and organizations. The key point is that all project will have milestones and these must be defined in product documentation, and captured in schedules and monitored in progress reporting.
If you are not sure what the milestones are on your project (there will always be some) check the list above or the mind map shown below for potential sources of Project Milestones.
Milestones may form part of a contract payments terms. It is not uncommon for professional services statements of work to include a payment plan based on the completion of pre-agreed milestones.
This alignment with work packages helps with a common cost reporting method in which milestones are plotted against project costs and time to produce time-scaled budgets.
Once identified, milestones should be reflected in the project schedule and will form an important way to monitor and report on project progress. Most planning software, like Microsoft project, allows the schedule to be filtered and reported on so that progress against milestones can be shown. This is particularly useful for senior management and the Project Board.
