Milestones

I thought I would expand a little more on milestones. The aim of this blog is to be as accessible to people who carry out small projects as possible, yet have no background in project management. So for me to just tell you to “Firstly write down the key milestones” isn’t overly helpful if you have never had to consider milestones before.

Milestones are those points in a project that stand out, things that you are aiming for. They often represent when something has been completed or another set of tasks are about to begin. With each milestone there is an event, output or a deliverable.

Milestones can be use to keep track of the project. They provide an easy way of assessing how well your project is doing in terms of its budget and deadline.

There are two approaches to developing milestones. The second is often used even if you use the first approach.

Approach 1: Identify all the key points on your project such as when something is delivered, an event takes place or there is an output.

Approach 2: List all the tasks in the project. Within these identify the critical points, the key markers. These are your milestones.

After completing Approach 1 you begin to list the tasks associated with delivering these milestones. While developing your list you may also apply Approach 2 and identify additional milestones.