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Project Management

Project milestones: how to identify, establish, and manage them.

January 15, 2024

Understanding project management milestones is crucial—these markers are not just indicators of progress; they serve as pivotal moments that define the journey of any project. 

Whether you’re a seasoned project manager or new to project management, you’ll leverage these milestones to track your project’s trajectory and success.

This article aims to dissect the concept of project milestone planning, presenting real-world project milestone examples and strategic insights to enhance your project’s success rate.

Designed for project managers across various industries, this guide is essential for optimizing project outcomes!

What is a Project Milestone?

Why are project milestones important, examples of common project milestones, how to identify project milestones and establish them, how to achieve your project’s milestones with clickup, clarifying common misunderstandings about project management milestones.

Project management milestones are significant points or events within a project’s lifecycle that signify project progress and guide the team. They mark critical events, helping project managers and teams recognize achievements and understand the path ahead.

Unlike regular tasks, milestones typically don’t have a duration; they represent a moment of achievement or a critical decision point.

For instance, in a software development project plan, one project milestone might be the completion of the beta version of the application.

This doesn’t just mean the preliminary version is ready for testing; it signals a shift from development to user testing and feedback gathering.

This milestone is pivotal for project managers and stakeholders as it allows for a comprehensive review of the work done, ensures alignment with project objectives, and sets the stage for the next development phase.

Milestones, particularly with tools like ClickUp , create clear markers of project progress, aid in effective tracking, and instill a sense of achievement as the team navigates through complex phases of the project.

In a world where ineffective implementation of business strategies leads to losses of $1 million every 10 seconds, understanding the significance of project milestones is more crucial than ever.

Here’s why setting and adhering to the milestone planning phase is paramount in the project management lifecycle :

1. Enhances project visibility

Project management milestone planning provides a high-level project overview, marking critical events along the timeline. This visibility helps project managers and stakeholders comprehend the progress of your project at a glance, ensuring everyone is informed and aligned.

With nearly every project phase accounted for, potential issues can be identified and addressed promptly, preventing costly overruns and delays.

2. Improves time management

Each project milestone represents an end date, guiding the project team on when specific tasks must be completed. This helps allocate time and resources effectively, ensuring the project schedule stays on track. 

Effective time management is crucial, as delays can contribute significantly to a loss in revenue. 

3. Facilitates better communication

Clear project milestones create common goals for team members to aim for. Regular project milestone reviews foster open communication about the project’s status, challenges faced, and successes achieved.

This continuous dialogue ensures that everyone remains on the same page, enhancing the team’s ability to meet objectives efficiently.

4. Aids in risk management

By breaking the project down into key project deliverables and checkpoints, milestones help detect potential risks and issues early.

This proactive approach allows teams to mitigate risks before they escalate, saving time and resources.

5. Encourages team motivation and morale

Achieving project milestones is akin to celebrating small victories along the project’s journey. Each project milestone reached is a testament to the team’s hard work and progress, serving as a motivational boost.

Recognizing these achievements is essential, as a motivated team is crucial for maintaining momentum and ensuring a successful project .

Project milestones are crucial checkpoints that help manage and track the progress of various initiatives. Here’s how they might look in three different types of projects: marketing, software development, and software testing.

1. Marketing campaign launch

Milestone #1: campaign go-live date.

The go-live date is a critical project milestone in any marketing project. It marks the moment the campaign is launched to the public, following weeks or months of creating project plans, including content creation and strategy development.

Marketing teams can utilize ClickUp’s Gantt Chart View to visually plan and monitor the steps leading to this project milestone. This would help ensure that every task is completed on time for a successful launch.

Milestone #2: First performance review

After the campaign has gone live, the first performance review is a crucial project milestone where the initial results are analyzed. This review typically involves measuring key performance indicators (KPIs) against the campaign’s objectives to gauge its early project success and identify areas for adjustment.

With ClickUp’s Project milestone chart and KPI reporting , marketing teams or individuals can track real-time data and performance against campaign’ goals, ensuring they’re on track to meet targets.

2. Software development project

Milestone #1: beta release.

The beta release is a significant project milestone in software development, marking the transition from initial development to testing and user feedback collection. It reflects a product ready for real-world exposure.

Use ClickUp’s milestone tracking software to monitor the progress toward this crucial point. Project management KPIs help keep tabs on essential metrics leading up to the release. You can view it on a Gantt chart or a whiteboard for a simplified view.

Milestone #2: End of beta feedback collection

Completing beta feedback collection is another essential project milestone, signifying the end of the initial user testing phase and the beginning of final refinements. This project phase is critical for implementing process improvements before the final release.

Utilize ClickUp’s Feedback Boards to gather and manage user feedback efficiently. Pair this with ClickUp’s Gantt chart software to schedule and track all the tasks required for implementing feedback before the final launch.

3. Software testing phase

Milestone #1: completion of user acceptance testing (uat).

Completion of User Acceptance Testing (UAT) is a major milestone in the software testing phase. It signifies that the software has met all specified requirements and is ready for deployment. This phase often involves real-world testing by end-users to ensure the software’s functionality aligns with their expectations.

ClickUp’s project management software allows for detailed scheduling and tracking of testing phases. Utilize ClickUp’s Milestone templates to standardize UAT processes across projects.

Milestone #2: Resolution of all critical bugs

After UAT, the next significant milestone is resolving all critical bugs identified during the testing phase. This milestone ensures the software is functional and meets the quality standards required for a smooth, user-friendly experience.

Manage and track bug resolutions efficiently using ClickUp’s project management features like Tasks, Automations, and Docs. The platform’s comprehensive project tracking capabilities allow you to monitor the progress of bug fixes, ensuring that no critical issue is overlooked before the software’s final release.

Identifying and establishing project milestones is critical in ensuring the progress and successful completion of tasks on any project. Here’s a guide to help project managers determine these key points in their project life cycle using various project management tools and strategies.

Step 1. Understand the project scope and objectives

Before setting project milestones, thoroughly understand your project’s goals , deliverables, and constraints. This understanding forms the basis of what your project milestones should achieve, aligning with the project’s end goals and key deliverables.

Step 2. Break the project down into phases

Divide the entire project into manageable project phases or stages. Each project phase should represent a significant chunk of work that moves the project closer to completion. This segmentation helps in setting specific, measurable, and achievable milestones.

Step 3. Identify key deliverables

Within each project phase, identify key project deliverables that signify progress. These deliverables should be critical project tasks or events that indicate a significant achievement or a shift in the project’s direction.

Step 4: Consult with the project team

Collaborate with your project team and other stakeholders to ensure that the milestones are realistic and achievable. Their input can provide valuable insights into the project’s requirements and potential challenges.

Step 5: Use project management software

Implementing a robust project management software like ClickUp helps you identify milestones and plan them accordingly. Utilize tools like ClickUp’s Gantt charts to visually plot out milestones against your project timeline and ensure they are strategically placed.

Step 6: Set important dates and criteria

Assign a specific date or criteria for each milestone. This could be the completion of a key deliverable, reaching a certain percentage of the project, or any other significant event. Ensure that these targets and end dates are realistic and provide enough time for quality work.

Step 7: Communicate milestones to the team

Once milestones are established, communicate them clearly to your project team and stakeholders. Everyone involved should be aware of these critical points and their significance to the progress of your project.

Step 8: Monitor and adjust as per the project progress

Throughout the project, closely monitor the progress towards each milestone. Use milestone tracking to know whether the project schedule is on track. Be prepared to adjust milestones as needed based on project changes or unexpected challenges.

What’s ClickUp?

Clickup is an all-in-one project management platform. ClickUp Milestones turn major project tasks into visual markers, signifying how far along your projects are. They are displayed boldly with a diamond icon, making them easy to spot.

This helps you visualize your project’s critical tasks and see how they connect to larger project goals.  It simplifies marking milestones and tracking major progress points on milestone charts, ensuring everyone is aligned toward key targets.

Who is it for?

ClickUp project milestones are for project teams and individuals managing projects of any type and size, especially those needing a clear view of major project phases and key milestones. It’s made for anyone who needs to visualize critical tasks at a glance on a milestone chart and ensure that complex projects stay on track.

Tracking milestones using ClickUp’s Project Management features

Let’s learn how to leverage ClickUp’s powerful project management features to achieve your project’s milestones.

1. Project Milestone Charts: Gantt Charts

Use ClickUp’s project milestone chart and Gantt Chart to visualize your entire project timeline and lay down your project plan, including your milestones.

It shows you how your milestones fit into the larger picture of your project schedule and plan. Adjust and track progress against key tasks on an adaptable project timeline.

2. Board View

The Board view enables you to recognize and identify milestones, among other tasks.. It’s particularly useful for visualizing when a project is ready for the next project phase. This view helps project teams that rely on a more visual, Kanban-style organization to monitor deadlines and next milestones effectively.

3. Dashboards

Incorporating too many milestones into major project phases can make it tough to see when essential stages begin or end or if they’re progressing on schedule.

ClickUp’s Dashboards provide a clear, real-time overview of your project’s progress. Using this feature, teams can:

• Track and manage the number of milestones effectively
• Focus on major phases without the clutter of excessive markers

You can summarize your current project status by tracking the milestones completed. It’s a powerful tool for project teams to monitor progress, identify deviations,, and stay on top of major milestones.

For lengthier projects that often have numerous milestones, you can streamline your report to include only milestones completed or pending within the current quarter.

4. Automation

Put routine busywork on autopilot by setting up Automation in ClickUp. You can create automations to update your team or adjust project schedules and task statuses as you reach different milestones, ensuring everyone is informed and can prepare for the next steps.

5. Custom Fields

Add custom fields to tailor your workflow to suit your specific project management needs. Create milestones, track them, add specific details, and ensure all necessary information is accessible.

6. Key milestones tracking and reporting

With ClickUp’s Milestone Tracking, you can set milestones, track progress, and get detailed reports easily. These reports provide insights into whether your project is on track and help you make informed decisions about necessary adjustments.

Aren’t milestones just another term for project goals or deliverables?

Here’s a list of common misconceptions regarding project milestones:

1. Milestone vs. Goal

Misconception: They seem interchangeable.

Reality: A goal is a future-oriented objective you’re aiming to achieve, for example, acquiring 100 new customers with a new marketing campaign. Milestones, conversely, are significant achievements reached in the project’s life cycle on the way to the goal.

They act as markers of progress, while goals are the targets you’re striving for. In the previous marketing campaign example, milestones could include copy and creative development, stakeholder signoff, and campaign launch. Let’s look at ClickUp’s Milestone templates Vs. Goal-setting templates to understand the difference between both.

2. Milestone vs. Task

Misconception: They’re similar components of a project.

Reality: Tasks are actionable items, often with a time estimate. For instance, a project task might be ‘Complete the client report by Friday.’

On the other hand, milestones signify the completion of crucial tasks or phases with no specific duration attached. They’re points on the project’s schedule, marking important steps and helping track the entire project’s progress.

3. Milestone vs. Deliverable

Misconception: They’re effectively the same thing.

Reality: A project deliverable is a tangible or quantifiable result, such as a product or report. In contrast, a key milestone is a significant moment or event in the project’s life cycle, which may or may not coincide with the completion of a project deliverable.

For example, obtaining stakeholder approval is a milestone, though it might not be considered a deliverable.

Premier Tool for Successful Projects

Remember that milestones are pivotal events charting the course of your project’s success. They’re not mere markers but vital checkpoints guiding and focusing project managers toward their overarching goals.

A project manager must identify these milestones and efficiently navigate the team through each, ensuring alignment with the project’s timeline and objectives. For effective milestone management, a well-organized and structured approach is essential.

Enter ClickUp, your ally in the meticulous planning of your project. ClickUp is a comprehensive suite for all your project needs from creating a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) to precise project planning.

So, don’t just plan; excel with ClickUp. Sign up for free today and navigate your project milestones easily and efficiently. With ClickUp, successful project completion is a visible, trackable, and achievable reality.

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• How to set and achieve project mileston ...

How to set and achieve project milestones in 2022

Not all project plans are created equal, however. Let’s say you’re working on your latest plan. It has goals, tasks, task owners, and deadlines. It has dependencies and deliverables. You’re confident that it’s a work of project planning art that will carry your team to success. But did you remember to include project milestones?

If your project doesn’t have milestones, then you’re doing yourself a disservice. Project milestones simplify your role as project leader because they give your team marks to aim for while also showing stakeholders your progress at a level they’re interested in. The good news is that project milestones are easy to add to any project (even those already in progress), and they provide multiple benefits.

Let’s look at what project milestones are and what they can do for you.

What is a project milestone?

Project milestones mark specific points along a project’s timeline. They are checkpoints that identify when activities or groups of activities have been completed or when a new phase or activity is launched. You can differentiate milestones from other elements of a timeline because they take no time to complete; think of them as signposts that keep things on track.

Are project milestones important?

Milestones are powerful because they demonstrate forward progress in your project plan. They help motivate and align your team by enabling everyone to view progress and  judge priorities . And they help you monitor deadlines, identify important dates, and recognize potential bottlenecks within the project. If you were to strip the tasks from your  project timeline , the milestones would still give an outline of the key steps or phases of the project.

It can be easy to confuse project milestones with other aspects of project management, so let’s review the differences.

Milestones vs. goals

Goals  are what you wish to achieve looking forward; milestones take a look back at what you’ve already done. Think of milestones as rungs on the ladder to achieving a goal.

Example: A  marketing team  working on company-wide rebranding initiative—a big project with many moving parts—might set a goal to complete the project by the end of the third quarter. They could then use milestones along the way to mark key decisions or activities as complete, such as colors selected, design templates created, launch plan approved, etc.

Milestones vs. project phases

Milestones often coincide with the start or completion of project phases (such as initiation, planning, execution, and closure). A project phase may take weeks or months to complete, involving multiple tasks and team members; a milestone is a zero-time “checkmark” of major progress that is important to acknowledge and report on.

Example: For a rebranding project, the initiation phase will cover many tasks, such as focus groups to gather ideas on the new branding and creative brainstorming sessions. A milestone at the end of the initiation phase would mark the team’s readiness to move to the planning phase.

Milestones vs. project deliverables

A  project deliverable  is a product or result, whereas a milestone is a moment in time. Deliverables are sometimes evidence of the completion of a milestone.

Example: Deliverables for the rebranding project could include the updated style guide PDF and associated logo files. The completion of these projects is worth noting (and even celebrating!), so the marketing manager could add a milestone denoting that achievement.

Milestones vs. tasks

Tasks are the building blocks of your project, and they take time to achieve. Milestones have no duration and are more like lines in the sand that mark a group of tasks as complete.

Example: A rebranding project will have many smaller and larger tasks, such as creating logos, setting up social media accounts, and writing press releases . A milestone might mark the completion of a group of related tasks.

Connecting project milestones to your project plans

Project milestones can be added to any type of project plan to help it run smoothly. They can be particularly helpful when it comes to scheduling because milestones will need to be placed alongside the relevant tasks or phases; setting up milestones helps you concentrate on target dates and adjust the project plan as needed.

You can also have fun with milestones! For example, plan celebrations for when major project milestones are checked off. This type of acknowledgment  boosts morale  and improves engagement.

You can add milestones to a project at any stage, so don’t wait for your next project kickoff to get started. Also, if you have recurring projects, work milestones into your  templates  now so that you have them in place for the future.

How to create project milestone schedules

Think of your project milestones as moments in time—rather than  objectives , deliverables, or tasks. As such, you should create milestones to represent important checkpoints in your project. Take a look at your project schedule, and pinpoint any checkpoints or important moments. For example, if you’re planning a  product launch , you’d likely create milestones to represent finalizing the launch messaging, launching your product web page, and actually launching the product. 

FAQ: How many milestones should a project have?

There’s no set number of milestones your project should have. Some projects will only have two or three milestones—others might have closer to a dozen. Instead of trying to hit a certain number of milestones, set milestones for important events that are happening during your project’s progress. Remember: milestones should be moments in time—the tasks it takes to hit those milestones should be represented elsewhere in your project.

Setting project milestone deadlines

Because milestones are moments in time and don’t track the processes you need to get to that moment, you should set your milestone deadlines for when the initiative is launched or goes live. For example, if you’re planning a virtual event, your milestone should be set for the day the virtual event takes place—not the prep work it takes to get there. Milestones denote important moments in your project progress, and help you gauge whether or not your project was successful. 

Project milestones examples

A project milestone marks a significant point in time. You can use  milestones in your projects  to represent events such as key deliverables received, project kickoff completed, final plan approved, requirements gathering , design approved, project phase completed, and much more.

Let’s walk through four examples of how milestones can work for your team.

Mark critical tasks. Tasks that must be completed at a specific time or the project will be blocked, such as a creative concept approval for a marketing campaign.

Highlight the end of a phase or stage. The end of a phase or stage of a major piece of work, like gathering budget requests from every department for company planning.

Spotlight a major event or deliverable. A major event or deliverable, such as finishing the build out of a new office your company is opening so you can begin moving people into it.

Focus on hitting goals and key results. Project goals and key results (KRs), such as hitting your three-month revenue target for a product that was recently launched.

Project milestones reporting

Setting milestones is a good start, but you won’t reap the full benefit until you track and report on them. Milestones are great reporting tools for communicating with stakeholders who don’t want or need task-level updates. This “broad stroke” data helps you instantly see which phases have been completed, if the project is on track to hit its future key milestones, and how close you are to your goal. You can still drill down to a more granular level, looking at the tasks tied to your milestones; this can help you see which steps and owners helped you get to a milestone or identify roadblocks that might have been in the way.

Tracking milestones lets you home in on your most important work and see the true status of projects, while giving you the knowledge to share  project progress confidently. Make sure your project management tool includes  status updates that report on milestones, so you can keep team members and stakeholders in the loop about what your team has accomplished and what milestone you’re working towards next.

Pro tip: what to do when you don’t hit your milestone goals

Sometimes, your team will miss your milestone deadline. That happens—but depending on the importance of your milestone, doing so can really set you back and delay your initiative or launch. 

If you don’t hit your milestone goals, take a step back with your team to figure out why you missed the milestone. Was your milestone incorrectly scheduled, or too ambitious? Look at the tasks and deliverables that were contributing to your milestone. Was one of them delayed? Oftentimes, with so many moving pieces, it’s hard to know exactly what’s happening when. To prevent these types of mistakes in the future, look for a project management tool that has a visual component, so you can see your projects in different ways like timelines, calendars, and Kanban boards.

Common project milestone pitfalls

Setting milestones is an art, not a science. There’s no exact right or wrong way to do it. That being said, these are some of the common pitfalls that teams encounter when they first start setting milestones: 

Setting too many milestones. The number of milestones you need will depend on the size and scope of your initiative. Avoid aiming to set a certain number of milestones “just because.” Instead, pay attention to the key tasks your team needs to accomplish in order for your project to progress.

Using milestones as tasks. Milestones should represent a moment in time. To track the work you need to do to get there, use tasks instead. Then, use milestones to represent when a group of tasks should be completed.

Keeping your milestones separate from other work. The best way to hit your deadlines and run a successful project is to manage all of your work in one place. Make sure your  project management tool  allows you to manage tasks, set milestones, and visualize your project progress in one place.

Set milestones for better project schedules

Now you know what project milestones are and how they can positively impact the planning, execution, and reporting of your projects. Consider them another tool in your project management belt—one you’re sure to get a lot of use out of. Once you start planning with milestones, you’ll never want to build a project plan without them.

Are you ready to get started planning with project milestones? You’ll need the right work management tool first. Check out  Asana , a leader in the market and the best work management tool for your team.

Related resources

What is a flowchart? Symbols and types explained

What are story points? Six easy steps to estimate work in Agile

How to choose project management software for your team

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How to Use Milestones to Create a Roadmap for Your Business

Posted june 11, 2020 by noah parsons.

Using milestones to create a roadmap for your business is the third step in the lean business planning process . If you’re building a lean business plan, download our free template or signup for LivePlan , and then follow along to create a simple, one-page business plan that will grow your business.

Even if you’re not building a lean business plan, this article series will help you develop your business strategy , develop tactics to support your strategy , create a roadmap to grow your business, and define your business model .

In this step, you’ll learn how to use milestones to create a strategic roadmap for your business.

What are business milestones?

Milestones are goals that you set for business, with dates and the person or team responsible. For example:

The marketing team will launch a new website by the end of the third quarter.

A business plan and strategy can’t turn into a real business without milestones. Milestones are what you use to convert your business strategy and tactics into action.

Just like a milestone on the side of a road marks how far you’ve gone, a milestone in business tracks your progress as you grow and implement your plan. They’re what you use to manage responsibilities, track results, and convert your idea into a functioning business.

How do milestones relate to strategy and tactics?

Previously, I’ve written about building your business strategy and then creating tactics to implement that strategy . Just like there’s a link between tactics and strategy, there’s a link between tactics and milestones. 

Tactics are the things you’re going to do to implement your strategy. For example, using social media marketing might be a tactic that’s part of your marketing strategy.

Milestones are used to add specific details to implement your tactics. Continuing the example above, a good milestone would be to establish a new Instagram account for your business and start updating it regularly. 

It may even be useful for you to outline how your strategy flows into a tactic and then to a milestone like this:

Marketing Strategy: Educate millennials about the environmentally friendly nature of our products.

Tactic: Social media marketing

Milestone: New Instagram account, established by the end of Q3, managed by our social media manager with a promotional budget of $1,000/month.

Now keep in mind that this is a very simple representation of this process. More than likely your strategy will have multiple tactics and each tactic will have multiple milestones. Think of them as a pyramid, building up toward the execution of your overall strategy.

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What makes a good milestone:

A good milestone clearly lays out the parameters of the task at hand and sets expectations for its executions. When planning out specific milestones you’ll need to have:

• A description of the task

And lastly, you’ll need a responsible person to manage and meet these milestones. It may even make sense to work with this individual on setting the specifics of each milestone and task.

Milestones are key to management

You’ll use your milestones to manage your business better . Once a month, when you meet with your team to review your business strategy and business numbers, you’ll review your milestones to make sure your plans are on track. If there are problems or changes, this is when you can make course corrections.

Reviewing your milestones monthly gives you more opportunities to spot problems and identify opportunities. If you only check in on your progress once a quarter, or potentially just once a year, you have fewer opportunities to adjust course and change direction. In virtually every business, there’s always new information to review and changes in what your customers want and need. 

A frequent review of your goals allows you to be nimble and adjust quickly when you need to. For more on why you should review your milestones and other business metrics frequently, check out my post on the topic .

3 types of business milestones

When you’re building and growing a business, you should end up scheduling three different types of milestones:

Plan review

• Assumptions validation
• Implementation

All businesses should have “plan review” milestones. These might be the most important milestones that you create.

The plan review milestone sets aside time to review your business strategy, tactics, forecast and budget. If you don’t regularly check your plan and make adjustments, you can easily get off track. Not to say that you should follow the plan blindly, either. Instead, a regular plan review meeting will give you a chance to look at what’s working, what’s not, and revise as you go.

Here at Palo Alto Software , we have a monthly plan review meeting on the second Friday of the month. We get our management team together, review our financials, and talk about what got done last month and what’s in the pipeline. This monthly meeting is critical for making changes and adjustments to our strategy and changing course as necessary.

For early-stage startups, it might just be a few of you that get together and there might not be much in the way of revenue or expenses to review. That’s okay. Instead, your monthly meeting will focus on the next steps you can take to make your business idea a reality, and what progress you’ve made so far. 

You’ll review your progress on implementing your strategy and tactics, such as developing a new marketing campaign, increasing the number of customers who make a second order by 15 percent, or signing the lease on new office space.

Milestones to validate your assumptions

When you’re just starting your business and figuring out if you’ve got the right strategy, you’re going to create milestones to help you validate your assumptions . These milestones are set for interviewing potential customers to figure out if they have the problem you think they have, and to discover if they’re interested in your solution. You’ll also work to try and figure out what your pricing should be.

Remember, in the early days of your business, you’re making a lot of guesses – assumptions, really – about what your customers need and want. Your initial strategy is a collection of guesses about the problems your potential customers have, how they want their problems solved, and what they’re willing to pay for your solution. Your milestones at this stage should be geared around validating those assumptions so you can build a successful business.

Some example milestones might be:

• Interview 20 potential customers in my primary market segment
• Research pricing models of my competitors
• Creating a preview landing page for my business to see what potential customers think

The milestones that you create at this stage should be focused on the goal of finding what’s called “product/market fit.” This means that you’ve found a target market that’s interested in buying your product and that your product solves a real problem for your customers.

It’s very likely that you find out that you don’t have good product/market fit right away. That’s OK. It’s easy to make changes to your strategy, come up with new assumptions, and go back and test them again with your potential customers. That’s the benefit of validating your assumptions early in the business startup process – you haven’t invested too much in building your business yet and can easily change directions if necessary.

Implementing your strategy

Once your assumptions have been validated, you’ll start creating implementation milestones. These are the tasks you’ll do to actually build your business. You’ll be doing things like building your product, setting up your office or shop, developing your website, and more.

Implementation milestones are typically for companies that have progressed out of the very early stages of starting up and have a proven strategy that they know is going to work. These milestones are all about getting things done to execute your strategy.

With Lean Planning, you adjust as you go

Your milestone schedules will evolve as you go, so don’t spend a lot of time initially documenting every last step you’re going to take to launch your business. Instead, plot out the next few steps you’re going to take. When those steps are done, come back and add more steps as you go.

After all, Lean Planning is an ongoing process, not just a one-time event. It’s all about creating a plan, running that plan, reviewing the results, and revising before you take next steps. Having solid milestones will make that process easier and more efficient, helping you build a better business, faster. The next post in this series talks about your business model —how you’re going to make money. Read on to learn about the final component of your Lean Plan.

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What Is a Milestone? 8 Examples for Better Project Management

Project plans are maps that chart the course of your projects. As you plan your project , you’ll begin to map out the tasks, dependencies, deadlines, and assignments.

But don’t forget a very important component of any project plan: milestones.

In this article, we’ll explain the meaning of a milestone in project management and share practical examples of project milestones you might use when planning a project of your own.

What is a milestone in project management?

Project milestones are checkpoints in your plan that mark important events, dates, decisions, and deliverables so it’s easy for your team and stakeholders to map forward progress on the project.

Milestones indicate a change in stage or development and act as signposts throughout the course of your project, helping you ensure everything stays on track. Without milestone tracking, you’re just monitoring tasks and not necessarily following the right path in your project.

Defining milestones vs tasks: What’s the difference?

Determining what should be a task or milestone can be difficult on larger initiatives—or projects that are new-to-you. If you’ve ever been confused about what is (or isn't) a milestone in your gantt chart, ask yourself these questions:

• Is this a deliverable you’ll want to mark as complete?
• Will this event impact the final deadline?
• Is this an important moment in the project that will indicate forward progress?
• Will this work require stakeholder review?
• Is this an event that impacts the project?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you’re looking at a milestone.

Milestones are given additional significance over tasks in a plan so the team and stakeholders can focus on forward momentum while the project manager monitors the pace and progress of work. 

Here’s how to tell the difference between milestones vs tasks when scheduling your timeline in TeamGantt:

• A project milestone is represented by a gold, diamond-shaped icon or symbol on your gantt chart with a zero-day duration. 
• Tasks show up as horizontal bars on the gantt chart. They can be assigned different task colors, as well as multi-day durations. Progress is tracked by percent complete.

Lay a clear path to success with a visual plan that’s easy to understand, and keep everyone in sync with flexible workflows and team collaboration.

5 common project milestone examples

Milestones are powerful components in project management because they make it easier to keep work on track. Let’s look at 5 simple examples of milestones you might include in your project plan:

• Start and end dates for project phases : Using milestones to indicate when each project stage should begin and end makes it easy for everyone to know when major phases are officially a wrap or fall behind schedule. 
• Key deliverables : Various deliverables lead up to the final product and mark progress along the way, whether it’s a research report, content document, or design mockup. Milestones can also help you track deliverables you need to produce—like weekly status reports or project scope documents—to keep stakeholders in the loop and on board.
• Client and stakeholder approvals : Approvals signal a clear movement from one project phase or deliverable to the next, making them a perfect use case for gantt chart milestones.
• Important meetings and presentations : Milestones are a great way to keep key meetings—such as project kickoffs, design reviews, or sprint retrospectives—on everyone’s radar. 
• Key dates or outages that may impact your timeline : Is your team attending an all-day conference? Adding it as a milestone keeps it visible in your project so no one accidentally plans work on top of it.

3 practical examples of how to use milestones in project management

Project milestones do more than just show progress—they can help you communicate what’s happening with your project. 

When creating a gantt chart , milestones provide an easy way to see major dates or deliverables at a glance. That means anyone who views your gantt chart can quickly tell where things are at any given moment.

Now that you understand what a milestone is and why it’s important, let’s dig a little deeper and explore 3 common ways you can use milestones to benefit your projects.

1. Monitor deadlines for deliverables more easily

No plan is ever complete without a list of deadlines ! The best way to make them noticeable is to use the project management milestones and deliverables technique. What does this mean? Make the deliverables project milestones!

Why do this? Well, it’s no secret that not everyone wants to pore over your beautiful project plan to find key dates. Most people—your teammates included—want a top-level view of key dates and events. Milestones are great for this purpose because they’re called out in a special way—usually with a diamond symbol—in project plans.

While you should list the tasks and effort leading up to a project milestone, be sure to present the milestone at the end of those tasks to signify a delivery, or even a presentation of, the deliverable.

Here's an example of how one team uses milestones to track an important deadline in their project.

2. Spotlight important dates

Are there days from now until the end of your project that could impact your project in some way? Maybe your team will be out of the office for a mandatory training. Or perhaps there’s a board meeting you’re expected to attend.

It’s important to keep all of these important events in mind when you’re planning a project because they could possibly impact your project schedule . So why not include them as project milestones so you can track them all in one place?

In this example, the team’s off-site strat-op meeting has been added to the project plan as a milestone so work can be scheduled around it.

3. Identify potential project bottlenecks

Many projects rely on the work produced by external teams or partners to make forward progress. If you’re not tracking those external factors somewhere, there’s a great chance you’ll forget to follow-up on it.

That’s why it’s important to list these deliverables as project milestones if you’re working on a project that depends on someone or something outside of your project. Here’s an example of how you might use a milestone to track a client approval.

How to manage gantt chart milestones in TeamGantt

Once you’ve mapped out your overall process and plan with your team, you can add tasks, identify gantt chart milestones, and determine task owners. Project milestones are easy to create and track because you’ve called out the most important points in your project. 

Let’s take a quick look at how project milestones work in TeamGantt.

How to set and schedule milestones in your gantt chart

You can set a milestone for your project in just a couple of clicks in TeamGantt. This quick tutorial shows you how to add milestones to your project schedule once you’ve signed up for a TeamGantt account.

How to change a task to a milestone

Need to change a task to a milestone on your gantt chart? Simply follow these steps:

• Hover over the task you want to change on your gantt chart.
• Click the 3-dot menu that appears to the right of the taskbar. 
• Select Convert to Milestone from the drop-down menu, and your taskbar should automatically switch to a milestone icon on your project timeline.

How to mark a milestone as complete

Nothing’s quite as satisfying as checking a major milestone off your list! To update the status of a milestone in TeamGantt, simply click the checkbox in the Progress column of your gantt chart to mark it as complete.

How to share project milestones with clients and stakeholders

Want to give clients and stakeholders a high-level view of the project? Follow these steps to share a PDF of key project milestones in your gantt chart.

1. Filter your project by milestones.

From Gantt view, click the All Dates menu at the top of your gantt chart, and select Only Milestones from the drop-down.

2. Export your filtered project to a PDF file.

Navigate to your project's Menu , and select Print/Export PDF from the drop-down.

Customize your PDF settings, then click View PDF to complete the export. From there, you can download and/or print your PDF to share with clients and stakeholders.

Who would have thought such a critical step could be so easy?

Hit every project milestone with ease

TeamGantt makes it easy to create, track, and collaborate on all your project milestones so nothing slips through the cracks.

You’ll have all the features you need to ensure projects finish on time and under budget—from drag and drop simplicity and team collaboration to customizable views and workload management.

Best of all, it’s all wrapped up in a simple and intuitive interface your whole team will love. 😍

Give TeamGantt a free try today!

Project Milestones Examples: A Step-by-Step Guide

Learn how to set and achieve milestones in project management with examples. Enhance collaboration, maintain a realistic project schedule, and ultimately work toward successful project completion.

Milestones are significant points of achievement or progress within a project. These serve as markers that indicate the completion of specific phases, the attainment of key deliverables, or the fulfillment of important objectives. 

Each milestone represents a critical juncture in a project's timeline and allows project managers and teams to track progress, evaluate performance, and ensure that the project is on course.

The significance of milestones in project management cannot be overstated. They play a crucial role in effectively tracking the advancement of a project and achieving overarching goals. 

Milestones provide a clear sense of direction and purpose to the project, ensuring that everyone involved understands the key targets and deliverables that need to be met. 

Additionally, milestones help in identifying any potential roadblocks or delays early on, enabling project managers to make timely adjustments and keep the project on track. 

By setting and achieving milestones and deliverables, project teams can enhance collaboration, maintain a realistic project schedule, and ultimately work toward successful project completion.

Definition and Purpose of Project Management Milestones

Milestones in project management are key markers that represent significant achievements, events, or stages within a project's lifecycle. They are essential tools for tracking and measuring progress, as well as ensuring that a project stays on course. 

Milestones provide a clear roadmap for the project team by breaking down the overall project into manageable phases, each marked by specific accomplishments. These accomplishments can range from completing crucial tasks to delivering key project components. 

Milestones serve as indicators of progress and help project managers communicate project status to stakeholders effectively.

Setting achievable and measurable milestones is paramount to the success of a project. Milestones act as guideposts that keep the project aligned with its goals and objectives. By defining milestones that are attainable and measurable, project teams can gauge their progress more accurately and determine whether they are on track to meet project deadlines. 

These milestones also provide motivation for the team, as they celebrate tangible achievements along the project's journey and help you navigate through new projects. 

Additionally, clear and measurable milestones allow for better communication among team members, stakeholders, and project sponsors, fostering a shared understanding of project progress and expectations.

Project Milestone Examples in Different Fields

Business and entrepreneurship: examples of milestones in project.

In the realm of Business and Entrepreneurship, milestones play a pivotal role in tracking progress and success. Some examples of project milestones in this context include launching a new product or service, marking a significant achievement in revenue generation, or expanding business operations into new markets. 

These milestones not only celebrate accomplishments but also guide the strategic direction of a business, helping entrepreneurs assess growth and make informed decisions.

In the field of Education, milestones serve as markers of academic and personal achievements. Examples encompass graduating from different levels of education, earning academic honors or degrees, and mastering new languages or skills. These educational milestones in a project provide individuals with a sense of accomplishment, showcase their progress, and motivate ongoing learning and development. Each milestone reached represents a step closer to personal and academic growth.

Personal Development and Self-Improvement

When it comes to Personal Development and Self-Improvement, milestones act as stepping stones towards growth and betterment. These milestones could encompass completing a challenging fitness regimen or reaching a weight loss goal, running a marathon or accomplishing a physical feat that was once daunting, and achieving proficiency in a new musical instrument or hobby. These personal milestones foster a sense of achievement, boost self-confidence, and provide motivation for continued self-improvement, contributing to a well-rounded and fulfilling life.

Project Management

In the realm of Project Management, milestones are integral in tracking project progress and ensuring successful outcomes. These milestones include meeting deadlines for project deliverables, successfully completing project phases or key milestones, and receiving positive feedback or recognition for project achievements. Project milestones serve as markers of progress, helping project managers monitor timelines, allocate resources effectively, manage project management tools, and keep projects on track. By breaking down a project into manageable sections with clearly defined milestones, project managers can streamline workflows and enhance overall project success.

Importance of celebrating milestones

Celebrating milestones serves as a powerful motivator for both teams and individuals involved in a project. It helps break the entire project into smaller pieces with multiple motivators in between. When teams achieve significant milestones, they experience a sense of progress and achievement, inspiring them to maintain their focus and dedication. Individuals are more likely to remain engaged and committed when they can see tangible progress towards a larger goal, and celebrating these milestones acknowledges their hard work and contribution to the project's success.

Milestone celebrations have a profound impact on morale and provide a strong sense of accomplishment. Recognizing the completion of milestones boosts team spirits, fostering a positive and enthusiastic atmosphere. This positivity can lead to increased job satisfaction, improved collaboration, and a deeper sense of camaraderie among team members. Additionally, celebrating milestones reinforces the idea that progress is being made, motivating individuals to persevere and overcome challenges.

Acknowledging and celebrating milestones also has the benefit of reinforcing positive behaviors and encouraging ongoing progress. By recognizing achievements, teams and individuals are more likely to continue their efforts with renewed vigor. The positive feedback and recognition gained from celebrating milestones can serve as a catalyst for maintaining momentum and striving for continuous improvement throughout the project's lifecycle.

Tips for setting effective milestone in project management

Setting effective milestones requires ensuring they are SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. Each milestone should have a clearly defined objective that is measurable and attainable within a specified timeframe. By adhering to the SMART criteria, milestones become clear targets that guide the project's progress and allow for accurate assessment of achievement.

Breaking down larger project goals into smaller, manageable milestones is essential for effective tracking and monitoring. Smaller milestones offer a sense of accomplishment along the way, making progress more tangible. These incremental achievements contribute to team motivation and keep everyone aligned with the project's direction.

Regularly evaluating and adjusting milestones is crucial. As the project evolves, circumstances may change, necessitating revisions to milestones. Regular review allows for adaptations to project timelines, resources, and priorities. By staying flexible and responsive, the project remains on course, and milestones continue to represent relevant achievements.

Recap of setting effective milestones in your project plan and examples of milestones:

Milestones play a crucial role in project management by providing clear markers of progress and accomplishment. They vary across different fields, from business and education to personal development and project management itself. For instance, they could include launching a new product, achieving academic honors, completing a fitness challenge, or meeting project deadlines.

I encourage you to embrace the concept of milestones in various aspects of your life. Setting and celebrating milestones not only boosts motivation and morale but also provides a sense of achievement. Whether in professional endeavors or personal growth journeys, milestones serve as guideposts, ensuring you remain on track and reach your desired destinations.

Recognize that milestones are more than just markers; they're catalysts for growth. By setting and celebrating milestones, you propel yourself toward success and growth, whether it's completing a project phase or reaching a personal fitness goal. Embrace the power of milestones as tools for progress and as vehicles that can drive you forward on the path to achieving your goals.

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The Complete Guide to Project Milestones: Definition, Purpose, Identification & Tracking Progress

Over a third of projects fail because of budget overruns. Project milestones are effective scheduling tools that help prevent projects from going over budget. Milestones also help keep a project on track and deliver projects on time.

But what exactly are project milestones? 

How are they different from deliverables or a bunch of tasks? 

What are the best practices for identifying project milestones?  

In this article, we’ll cover everything you need to know about milestones.

What is a project milestone?

• How are milestones different from deliverables and tasks?
• Reasons why milestones are critical to project planning.
• Best practices to identify milestones for a project.
• How to add a milestone to a project roadmap in Toggl Plan ?
• How to share milestones with clients & stakeholders?

Let’s get started.

A project milestone marks a significant point in time in a project’s life cycle. It could be the start or end of a project. Or it could note the completion of an important phase.

When a project reaches this point in time, the milestone is achieved.

Alternatively, a project milestone can also be defined as a marker that signifies a change in the project’s state.

Project milestones act as markers throughout the project’s course. And ensure that a project stays on track.

Milestones are also effective scheduling tools.

With project milestones, you can break down a large, complex project into smaller phases. This helps deliver projects more predictably.

In summary, a project milestone tells us what the project is supposed to achieve at a pre-set date. It refers to a point in time and not a period. Milestones are about what we want to achieve, not how we achieve it.

Key differences between milestones & other project terms

It’s easy to mix-up project milestones with other project management concepts. So let’s quickly review the differences.

Project milestones vs goals

Goals represent the big picture of the objectives that you wish to achieve with your project. Milestones, on the other hand, are checkpoints on the journey to achieve a project’s goal.

For a new website design project, milestone examples are:

• Freezing the style guide,
• Choosing a website platform,
• Designing page templates,
• Adding content, or
• Promoting the website.

Project milestones vs deliverables

Deliverables are the output or the result of the project activities. Milestones are specific events in a project’s life cycle. Some milestones when achieved result in delivery.

For our example web design project, deliverables could be: brand elements, the actual website, and a maintenance service. 

Whereas, for the project milestone example, “Freezing the style guide”, the deliverables could be a pdf style guide, brand imagery, etc.

Project schedule vs milestones

The project schedule includes all the activities that need to be executed to complete a project. The schedule can be a high-level project roadmap. On the other hand, it can also be a task-level project plan. 

Milestones are specific points in time on the project schedule.

For the fictional website design project, the project schedule starts at project kickoff and ends when the website is handed over to the client.

Project milestones vs tasks

Tasks are the activities in your project with a start and an end time. They take time to complete. However, project milestones take no time to complete. They are just signposts to signify the time by which a group of tasks needs to be completed.

Let’s consider the project milestone example of “Freezing a style guide”. To achieve this milestone, the project team will have to complete tasks such as:

• Brainstorm ideas with the client.
• Create a color palette.
• Choose fonts.

5 reasons why milestones are important for project success

Because milestones are just a blip on the project timeline, it’s easy to underestimate their importance. Milestones are very powerful tools for planning, scheduling, and executing projects.

#1. Milestones improve project delivery.

Milestones break down a large, complex project into smaller phases. 

Depending on the requirements, your best team members and resources can be assigned to a phase. They in turn can concentrate on achieving a milestone by completing the tasks for the phase.

#2. Milestones facilitate communication with stakeholders.

Milestones help you track project progress. It’s a way to measure how far you’ve come. And how far you’re from completing the project.

Most stakeholders are not interested in learning about the day-to-day tasks happening in a project. Yet, they want to stay informed about a project’s progress. Milestones come in handy when communicating progress.

#3. Project milestones serve as checkpoints.

According to a Gartner survey , over 35 percent of projects fail due to inaccurate requirements gathering. 

You don’t want to wait until the last minute to verify the accuracy of a project’s requirements. That is where project milestones help. Milestones add checkpoints for both the project team as well as the stakeholders. And ensure that the project stays on track.

These checkpoints become even more critical when working with external vendors and partners. Milestones provide clear visual clues to suppliers for deliveries and stakeholders for approvals.

#4. Milestones keep the stakeholders & team on track.

Milestones serve as reminders to stakeholders about important project events such as:

• Requirement gathering workshops,
• Reviewing milestone deliverables, and
• Other upcoming meetings.

For teams, milestones indicate upcoming deadlines, deliverables, and impending supplies from vendors.

#5. Milestones improve team engagement.

A project milestone doesn’t have to be about dry tasks and review meetings. It’s also an opportunity to congratulate your team and celebrate. Depending on your budget, you can give your team a thank you note, take them out to lunch, or even give a bonus.

Acknowledging your team’s achievements pays off in the long-term. It helps improve:

• project engagement,
• team loyalty, and
• employee retention

How to identify milestones in a project?

For small projects identifying milestones is fairly easy. We have seen the difference between tasks and milestones. But, in large, complex projects, things can become confusing.

Here are some ideas to help you identify milestones.

Identify milestones early in a project

The best time to decide on milestones is early in the project’s life cycle — when you’re creating the project roadmap. 

That’s because, at this stage, you don’t have a detailed, task-level plan. However, you do have the project requirements and deliverables.

Consider asking the following questions to identify project milestones.

• When do we have to freeze inputs from the stakeholders?
• Where in the project do we need the stakeholders to review progress?
• At what points in the project, are we expected to deliver something?

Sometimes, you’ll also need to identify internal or team milestones.

• When do we recruit the team members for this project?
• By when do we train them for the skills and knowledge needed for the project?
• At what point do we acquire resources and tools from suppliers?

At the end of this exercise, you’ll have a bunch of events that affect a project’s requirements, scope, budget, or timeline. Marking these milestones on your project roadmap will help your team and stakeholders clearly see what’s coming at them.

Project milestone examples

We have a full article about project milestone examples . Anyway, here are some common examples that you may want to include in your plan.

• Start and end dates of project phases
• Key delivery dates
• Client (or stakeholder) reviews and approvals
• Resource acquisition completion dates
• Team hiring and training completion dates

How many milestones should a project have?

Creating too many milestones can add unnecessary complexity to your project schedule. On the other hand, creating too few may veer the project off-track.

In a nutshell, there’s no fixed number of milestones a project needs to have.

As long as you’ve covered the most important events in a project, you should be fine.  

How to label milestones in a project?

Milestone names should indicate completion or achievement. Here are some examples of good milestone labels:

• Team hiring done
• Requirement gathering complete
• Style guide delivered
• Website design frozen
• System handover complete

You don’t want ambiguous, confusing, or generic milestone labels, such as, “Milestone 1”, “Feature 1 complete”, “Testing done”, etc.

Project milestones template

There are some really good templates for the Microsoft office suite to visualize project milestones.

This milestone template for Powerpoint helps you create and visualize a project timeline along with milestones.

Or you can download this project milestone template for Microsoft Excel. Add your milestones below and the template automatically creates a visual timeline.

Problems with project milestone templates

A template may seem like an attractive option to communicate important milestones in a project. However, templates come with a few limitations. Consider these limitations before going the template way.

• Project milestone templates are not very flexible. Any changes or customizations may cause the template to break.
• At a time only one person can work on a template. This makes it incredibly hard to work collaboratively.
• All changes to the timeline will have to be communicated to the team and the stakeholders. This leads to multiple versions of the same document and may cause confusion.

How to create a milestone in Toggl Plan?

Creating a milestone in Toggl Plan is super simple.

While you can create a milestone at any time, it’s recommended to freeze milestones early in the project’s life cycle. Sometimes even as early as when creating the project roadmap.

Arrange all the high-level tasks on your project timeline considering resource availability and dependencies. Next, identify project milestones by asking the questions we discussed earlier.

To add a milestone to your roadmap, click on the date at the top of the timeline. Enter the milestone name. And choose a color to differentiate it on the timeline. 

You can also choose to make the milestone visible on other projects. This is very useful if your team is working on multiple projects simultaneously.

How to share milestones with clients and stakeholders?

Toggl Plan makes it easy to work collaboratively with clients and stakeholders.

You can add clients and stakeholders as users to your Toggl Plan workspace. That way they can work with you to plan a project roadmap.

Sometimes you only want to keep stakeholders in the loop. With Toggl Plan, you can share a read-only view of the timeline. That way they won’t be able to make any changes to the plan, but can still stay in the loop.

Plan & achieve project milestones with ease

Now you know what project milestones are, why they are important, and how to identify them. Armed with this knowledge, you’re ready to start planning projects and milestones.

To get started, you’ll need the right project planning tool.

Toggl Plan can help.

Toggl Plan makes it easy to plan milestones and track progress to hit deadlines.

The drag and drop timeline interface makes it easy to create high-level project roadmaps or detailed, task-level plans. Color-coded milestones give clear visual cues to your team and stakeholders of what’s coming next.

Best of all, Toggl Plan is easy to get started with and fun for your team to use every day.

Get started with Toggl Plan for free

Jitesh is an SEO and content specialist. He manages content projects at Toggl and loves sharing actionable tips to deliver projects profitably.

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Home > Business Plan > Milestones in a Business Plan

Milestones in a Business Plan

… in the future we will do this …

Milestones look forward to tell the investor what to expect from your business in the future and when to expect it. They are significant events that you think your business can achieve which will indicate that it is moving forward according to plan.

Business Milestones Examples

The milestones chosen will ultimately depend on the current stage of development of your business. For example they might include the date on which any of the following occur:

• Website operational: The date when the website is operational.
• Incentive plan drawn up: The date on which the incentive scheme for senior managers will be introduced.
• Pitch deck produced: The date the pitch deck will be available for distribution.
• Minimum Viable Product/Service Launch: The date when the business’s product or service will be available to the market.
• Hiring Key Personnel: The date when key personnel, such as executives or managers, will be hired.
• Securing Funding: The date when funding, either through investment or a loan, will be secured to support the growth of the business.
• Reaching Target Market: The date when the business will start reaching its target market and generating revenue.
• Breaking Even: The date when the business’s expenses and revenue will be equal, indicating the business is financially sustainable.
• Achieving Profitability: The date when the business’s revenue will exceed its expenses, indicating the business is making a profit.
• Expansion: The date when the business will expand its operations to new markets or launch new products or services.

Milestones Schedule

There is no set style to the milestone section. The example below uses a chart format for a five year period and breaks down the first year into quarters. Each row of the business milestones chart represents a significant event. Presenting each the milestone in this format helps investors to see what the event is and when they can expect it to have been achieved.

Milestones in a business plan provide a road map for the business’s growth and help the management team focus their efforts and resources on the most important goals.

About the Author

Chartered accountant Michael Brown is the founder and CEO of Plan Projections. He has worked as an accountant and consultant for more than 25 years and has built financial models for all types of industries. He has been the CFO or controller of both small and medium sized companies and has run small businesses of his own. He has been a manager and an auditor with Deloitte, a big 4 accountancy firm, and holds a degree from Loughborough University.

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How to write project milestones (with practical tips and examples)

11 min read

December 21, 2023

Defining project milestones is important in helping you complete your project on time and keeping track of the project progress. With project milestones, you can represent the defined goals of a project to the stakeholders, as well as communicating the timeline to achieve them. To simply state it, milestones are checkpoints in a project’s journey. 

Sometimes, understanding how to go about writing and collating milestones can be a chore. In this article, you’ll get to understand what a project milestone is, the importance of these milestones and how to define and manage them. 

What is a project milestone? 

Project milestones help you break down a project into smaller sections, so you have a clear idea of what tasks need to be completed and by when. Unlike deadlines and goals, which can refer to smaller, more specific tasks, milestones outline the project roadmap and are part of the project’s bigger picture. 

Project milestones are used as a method for defining important phases in a project. They can either mark the major progress points or can be broken down into smaller goal points. Either way, project milestones are important for measuring progress – in small bits or in chunks. 

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The importance of project milestones and how to use them 

Defining, managing and tracking a project schedule can become overwhelming. This is why project milestones should be created for every project, no matter how big or small. Here are some of the reasons project milestones are important:

Create a clear project plan

Tackling a large project can be herculean. It is difficult to decide the next steps when the project first takes off. But with milestones set, you can break large projects into smaller work batches and create a clear plan for how to complete each project phase. 

Keep track of your project’s progress

Working on a big project comes with its challenges and distractions. The huge number of tasks can be especially overwhelming. With milestones, your team can focus only on the task that needs to be done to reach the next project phase. This helps you track your project’s progress as you move it from one stage to another. 

The best teams make it easier to keep everyone in the loop as projects progress from one stage to the next by using project management software. 

How do you write a project milestone? 

As the project manager’s responsibility, writing project milestones is crucial but can seem a bit confusing, especially for those doing it for the first time. To write a realistic and effective project milestone, this easy-to-follow guide can help you get started.

1. Identify the key milestones

These key milestones mark the important project phases. They are the main checkpoints on the way to successfully meeting the project’s schedule. For a marketing team at a company working towards the launch of a new product, the timeline for completing a media advertising outreach, public relations, and online marketing campaigns could be some major milestones.

2. Define each milestone in more detail

Now, it’s time to go into more detail. So, make sure to write out summaries for each key milestone, including a series of tasks and steps required for the completion of that project phase. These tasks can be further broken down with a detailed description of what each task entails. 

3. Get feedback and approval from stakeholders

Every project has stakeholders who are in total control of its execution. These stakeholders are important in this step of project milestone writing, because they are responsible for bringing the project to completion. So, their inputs, feedback, and approval of the milestones and project plan are crucial to the project’s success. 

After defining the key milestones and the smaller tasks for your project, the next step is to share your file with all relevant stakeholders, to request feedback and final approval. The easiest and fastest way to do this is with the help of a review and approval tool , like Filestage. 

With this tool , you can upload your file to a centralized platform and invite reviewers. Then they can leave comments directly on the file and discuss changes with others. Once everyone is happy with the defined milestones and tasks, they can approve the file with one click. 

4. Assign each milestone to a person/ team

After implementing the feedback and getting the project milestones approved, the next thing is to assign every milestone to the appropriate stakeholders. You can assign a milestone to a specific team or an individual to see it through. The creative stage of a large marketing project may be assigned to a design team, while the distribution stage could be assigned to a PR team. 

5. Visualize your project phases using a Gantt chart

Statistics have shown that a lot of us tend to commit to the things we see and can visualize easily. That’s why creating project milestones should be visualized, in order to aid productivity and teamwork. 

One of the ways to visualize your project milestones is with the use of a Gantt chart. They’re a method to display and track projects, using horizontal bars to reveal the project timeline, as shown in the image below.

Four factors to consider when creating milestones

Like everything else that happens in our daily lives, a project might not totally go as planned. That is why there are a few factors you should consider when writing your project milestones.

1. Dependencies

When writing a project milestone, you should consider other events that influence each milestone. These events, upon which the progress of your project relies, are known as dependencies. 

There are four major types of project dependencies. 

• Finish-to-start dependencies make it impossible to start the second task in a project until the first one is completed. 
• Finish-to-finish dependencies tie the completion of two project phases together. This means that one phase of such a project has to be completed alongside another.
• Start-to-start dependencies ensure that two project milestones start at the same time. Starting one will almost automatically trigger the other. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that they have to be completed together.
• Start-to-finish dependencies tie the completion of the second project milestone to the start of the first one. However, this type of dependency is not very typical. 

2. Unforeseen factors

Emergencies and unplanned events can be unsettling when it comes to planning a successful project. That is why it is necessary to make provisions for the possibility of unforeseen factors. This could be the absence of a team member or holidays, crashing of a system or server, extra expenses and many more possible happenings. 

3. Tweaks by clients and stakeholders

Projects usually go through review and approval processes and revisions are often requested. So, while writing a project milestone, it’s best to make provisions for the time required to incorporate feedback shared by your colleagues, clients and stakeholders.

To make this feedback collection process as frictionless as possible, you should have review rounds between project milestones, to see if you are right on track. Also, don’t forget to plan for the extra time needed for the stakeholders to review the milestone, as well as the time for revisions. 

4. Setbacks by team members  

We’re humans. We can’t always be perfect. That’s why it is best to make provisions for a possible falter of a team member. Anything can happen, ranging from a team member falling ill to making a mistake, or a team member submitting their part late. 

It’s best to make provision for any possible setback from the team. For example, having some team members in the backend to assist when needed can help you make up for unexpected setbacks.  

Differences between milestones and other terms 

A lot of people mix up the meanings of milestones and terms such as project goals, tasks, deliverables, etc. These words don’t mean the same, despite having certain connections. It’s important to know the differences between these terms, to be able to understand what milestones truly are.

Difference between milestones and project goals 

These two words can be interchangeable. However, a goal is a result that a person, a team or even an organization has prepared to achieve success within a specified time frame. A milestone, on the other hand, is the measurable and important accomplishment necessary to achieve a goal. The goal for an advertising campaign may be to engage 1,000 persons but the milestone covers all the tasks that need to be done to reach that goal. 

Difference between milestones and tasks 

Tasks are slightly different from milestones. A task is an activity that a project team or individual needs to finish in a particular time frame. A milestone is a collection of related tasks that, when completed, brings a project phase to completion. For example, an advertising campaign is the milestone of a project, which includes multiple tasks like designing the layout of social media ads, writing the ad copy or setting the campaign up in the social channels.

Difference between milestones and deliverables 

A deliverable is one word that people tend to mistake for milestones. But they don’t mean the same thing. A project deliverable is a product or service that denotes the completion of a project phase. A project milestone, on the other hand, is the completed project phase. For example, a milestone can be the step of creating advertising content, while key project deliverables can be the designs or videos that have been created in that phase.  

Some project milestones may not have tangible deliverables, while some may have several deliverables at intervals. However, the more likely you are to measure the deliverables, the easier it is to track the forward progress of the milestones. 

Four important tips for creating project management milestones 

There are many approaches to creating project milestones. These different methods can be polar opposites. However, they all require certain things to be successfully created.

1. Be specific 

In creating a project milestone, you might be tempted to give very broad definitions. However, to create a project milestone that will not be misunderstood by project members, it’s best to be specific and provide some details. You can use numbers, rates or even pictures.

2. Be realistic

You obviously can’t create a milestone that you can’t achieve within the set timeframe. Meeting key milestones is very important for the accomplishment of goals. So, it is advisable to create milestones that have a realistic scope that is achievable within the specified timeframe. 

3. Be timely

The essence of creating milestones is to complete the entire project on time. When writing project milestones, it’s essential to put a timeframe that the project team must adhere to. The timeframe for each milestone should be aligned with the life cycle of the larger project . This way, things will stay on track and on time.  

4. Stay within budget

Finances are important for every single decision you make in project management. That is why you need to make sure to create a project milestone that stays within the specified budget without deviating. This way, you avoid having to re-budget or prepare a whole new project milestone, thus saving you extra work. 

What are project milestones examples? 

Figuring out what project milestones look like might seem tricky. There are so many examples of possible project milestones, used in many industries.

Let’s use the example of what the project milestones for a new product launch campaign might look like. When launching a new product, a campaign is needed to create awareness and advertise the product before it’s released to the market. 

The first milestone in a campaign for a new product launch would be identifying and understanding the target audience. Every product has a specific niche and target market. To create an effective campaign, it’s important to understand who the product is aimed at and how to possibly reach them. 

The next milestone is identifying the channels to reach these target audiences. This will inform your best means of advertisement (social media, print media, etc). If your target audience is young adults between 18 and 30 years, your main channels are probably social media and other internet platforms. 

Some other milestones of your campaign could be creating the content for the campaign, doing test launches with volunteers and beta users, or monitoring the reactions to the launch of the product. These steps and a number of others can be key milestones to the launch of the new product.

Reporting on project milestones 

Project milestones can also be useful in helping create progress reports for your project. Looking back on your project plan, you should be able to pull the tasks out and the milestones should provide you with all the necessary information on how your project is moving forward.

These milestones can be helpful when you are creating a report for a client, sponsor or supervisor in your office. In many professional situations, it is likely you will have to prepare some sort of project report on a regular basis, to show your sponsors or superiors how you are progressing. The milestones should provide you with all the details you will need, to present them with the information they are looking for.

When thinking of the format conventionally used to report these milestones, a table is often used. Here, you will list the milestone description, the date it was due and the new forecasted due date. Completed milestones will be added as well, along with the date they were completed.

Although these tables will make it obvious that certain goals haven’t been achieved on time, examining them in advance can offer some time for reflection, so you are able to answer the higher-ups when they ask why you weren’t able to hit a certain milestone when it was due. It will also help you look at your project management and see where improvements can be made.

Since longer projects will tend to have a lot of milestones, limit your report to include only milestones that have been completed or are pending for the current quarter. This will make less work for you and also allow your sponsor or higher-up to better focus on the progress that has been made recently, and what still needs to be done.

How to use the Gantt chart 

As mentioned above, one of the most effective ways to go about the visualization of a project milestone is the use of a Gantt chart. A Gantt chart is a chart that uses horizontal bars as a representation of the project timeline. The timeline goes on the horizontal axis, while the task is listed on the vertical axis. 

To create a Gantt chart, three types of data are needed. The first column contains all the tasks that are required to complete a project. In the next column, you can input the deadline for each of these tasks. In the third column, you could go as far as including a percentage tracker, to measure the progress of each task. 

By using a Gantt chart, you get to see all the steps you need to complete each project milestone. The Gantt chart also shows dependencies between milestones, which you will have identified before.

For each milestone and task, you create a bar chart to display the start and end date. Also, to make it more appealing, you can use colors to represent different milestones, major tasks and also team responsibilities in the project. Gantt charts increase transparency, help the entire project team to visualize the progress of the project and see who each milestone is assigned to.

How to use project milestones effectively 

Although milestone planning can be useful in keeping a project on track and keeping employees motivated, project managers must know how to use them to make sure they are effective. Here are some things to keep in mind when implementing milestones in your project planning.

Because milestones can work as a motivational technique, the project manager may have the tendency to overuse them. They do this by identifying tasks and other less significant goals as milestones. This frequency of use can make meeting milestones seem more commonplace and can actually cause workers to become less motivated overall.

Be sure to limit milestones to goals that can be considered junctions on a critical path and important deliverables.

While it is important not to present milestones too frequently, it is also important not to space them too far apart. This will cause your staff to lose momentum and motivation. Ideally, try to space milestones so they land approximately two weeks from each other.

When establishing milestones, all workers should be on the same page. The project manager should be sure that their team is aware of each milestone, by distributing the necessary charts or spreadsheets to each team member and keeping them displayed prominently in the workplace.

Accountability

Every member of your team must realize the importance of meeting milestones in a timely fashion. If they are unable to do so, this is an issue that needs to be addressed immediately. If your team is unable to meet a milestone by its due date, a discussion should be held as to why this happened and what can be done to increase productivity in the future.

Fallibility

Not every milestone will be met with success, and that’s okay. In fact, it’s a good idea for the project manager to create milestones that may be more difficult to meet and may end up in failure. This can provide a learning experience for workers and give them something to aim for in the future.

Conclusion 

Project milestones can seem very overwhelming sometimes, but taking the time to understand the logic behind the use of these milestones makes project management easier. By creating project milestones, you successfully split the project into smaller stages and tasks that can be distributed among the members of the team. 

Project milestones make the completion of a project easier and more organized. To use project milestones well, you have to ensure timing, accountability, frequency and all other factors are considered. Project milestones are a game-changer for successful projects. 

Muriel Skusa

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6 Essential Milestones to Achieve in Your Business Roadmap

Free SMART Goal Template

Ayush Jalan

• February 19, 2024

Entrepreneurs start their businesses envisioning the success they wish to see. But just having a great idea is not enough. What’s needed is a long-term roadmap with appropriate business milestones. This helps break down long-term goals into bite-sized objectives.

Through these milestones, you get a birds-eye view of where your business is and where you want to be in a given timeline. Think of it as a guiding principle for your business. It gives you direction, clarity, and the means to track, measure, and compare your progress.

In this article, we will see what are business milestones , why they matter, and how you can set them for your business. We will also share with you six of the most essential business plan milestones you need to create your own roadmap.

Table of Contents

• Business Milestones and Needs

How to Create Business Plan Milestones

6 must-have business milestones to achieve, create your roadmap to success, what are business milestones, and why do you need them.

Milestones are the indicators in your business journey that help you identify how far you’ve come and what you need to do to reach your targets. They help simplify your actions into manageable and perceivable day-to-day activities.

Writing SMART goals and setting milestones are essential for your business to succeed. Milestones help you:

• Map out your goals with relevant metrics to track progress
• Adjust trajectory in case of any deviations
• Predict when you will reach your set goals

Goals without milestones lack direction. And to be able to follow the right direction, you need the right strategies that follow the right timeline.

Creating clear, accurate, and distinct milestones is essential to reaching your goals. An effective milestone has four key elements:

• Description (What): List down the details of your milestone. For instance, instead of writing ‘increase sales, you can write ‘increase sales by 30% percent. Add as many details as necessary to understand your objectives.
• Date (When): Mention a deadline for the task . Without one, it can be difficult to achieve goals on time. Set up a timeline for each task. This helps you manage and complete tasks as per your business requirements.
• Budget (How much): Before you start any task or project, plan your budget and how much of it you want to allocate to each task. This helps you stay within your budget, avoid wastage, and save time.
• Delegation (Who): Assign the responsibility to the relevant talents. Make sure to keep adequate supervision of the progress made to ensure a consistent outcome.

Inspired by a brilliant business idea, you decided to set up your company. You also took it upon yourself to create a custom business plan , acquire capital, secure all permits and licenses, and do other paperwork. Good job!

The next step is to set yourself apart from your competitors, to establish authority. A well-made roadmap can help you get there and make sure that your business stands the test of time.

Keeping that in mind, here are 6 milestones to include in your business roadmap:

1. Create a Tailored Business Model

A business model explains how a company makes money; it describes how your business operates to generate sales and revenue. An effective business model is simple to understand and flexible to changes in the business environment.

Before you put up the “Yes, we’re open” sign, make sure to conduct a customer analysis . This will help you identify your target audience, and their pain points, and sell them profitable solutions. The more complex of a problem you’re solving, the higher you can price your solutions.

Once you’ve gathered enough data from your analysis, you can customize your business model based on the promising trends. After achieving this milestone, start selling your offerings to your target customers.

2. Sell to Your First Repeat Customer

A good business knows how to attract new customers, but a great business knows how to retain them. Your next milestone is to sell your offerings to a repeat customer, i.e. a former customer who wants to buy from you again.

Simply put, it means getting your one-time customers to revisit your store for a second purchase.

Here are a few ways to do that:

• Personalize the shopping experience: When customers buy from your store, they leave a trail of info behind like their age, gender, status, etc. This info helps you understand their buying habits, interests, and purchasing power. With this info, you can provide them with a personalized experience when they visit again to make them want to stick longer.
• Maintain customer relationships: Customers buy from brands they remember. To do so, you can reach them via email, SMS , social media, newsletters, etc. You can use these channels to let them know of special offers, remind them of sales, etc.
• Maintain a strong online presence: Interact with your customers on the platforms they use the most. Create targeted posts and increase engagement. Resist overblown hard-sell tactics. Instead, use creative ways to incur inbound leads.
• Reward customer loyalty: If you happen to be lucky enough to have loyal customers, make sure to reward them for their loyalty. Rewards can include discounts, coupons, free shipping, or free product demos. These will help spread word-of-mouth about your brand and increase awareness

3. Execute a Realistic Marketing Strategy

After attaining repeat customers, the next milestone is to multiply those numbers. We do this by using vigorous strategic marketing techniques. Remember, marketing is the heart of a business. It’s a medium to build relationships and communicate with the outside world.

A good marketer is an ambitious one, but a smart marketer injects a sense of realism into their omnichannel marketing strategy. The more realistic you are, the more likely you are to achieve your marketing goals and successfully promote and sell your offerings.

Creating a marketing strategy requires extensive research and analysis. To do so, a great start is to conduct a SWOT analysis . Keep a close eye on your industry’s growth, prevalent trends, customers, and competitors.

Marketing is a trial-and-error practice; don’t expect quick results. Once you know what works, you can outsource your marketing needs to an ad agency to save time .

4. Build a Reliable Team

After earning loyal customers and creating a robust marketing plan, the next milestone is to build a solid team . A team with a diverse skillset helps you generate new ideas, solve problems, and tackle uncertainties.

Every startup begins with a compact team. But as you progress further, you will need more support. Make sure that your team is on the same page and can manage conflicts and different opinions.

This is where a good HR can come in handy to unite the efforts of the team. Be sure to take your team’s opinions into account when making important business decisions and strategic changes.

5. Increase Your Repute in the Industry

With a reliable team in place, your next milestone is to compete with rivals and gain authority in your industry. Make use of every opportunity, online and offline, to spread your brand name. Analyze your customer needs, assess what your competitors are doing, and provide better solutions.

Doing so will help you turn heads—which later translate into sales. Write guest posts , offer free seminars/webinars, partner with other brands, use press releases, and market on social media.

6. Achieve a Set Sales Target

The milestones you’ve achieved so far are mostly qualitative. For the last milestone, you will set a quantitative sales target paired with a deadline. This means reaching a specific dollar amount of sales in a given amount of time.

Often, after a certain point, business growth stagnates. To avoid this, keep creating new goals that are ambitious yet achievable. This will ensure a higher chance of success in the long run.

Starting a business comes with all sorts of obstacles. Some are easy to overcome, and some take months. Regardless, setting milestones helps you maintain a clear vision of where you want to go.

A profitable business model, loyal customers, a realistic marketing strategy, a reliable team, a good reputation, and an achievable sales target—all combine to ensure your long-term success.

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About the Author

Ayush is a writer with an academic background in business and marketing. Being a tech-enthusiast, he likes to keep a sharp eye on the latest tech gadgets and innovations. When he's not working, you can find him writing poetry, gaming, playing the ukulele, catching up with friends, and indulging in creative philosophies.

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How to Write a Business Plan: Step-by-Step Guide + Examples

Noah Parsons

24 min. read

Updated May 7, 2024

Writing a business plan doesn’t have to be complicated. 

In this step-by-step guide, you’ll learn how to write a business plan that’s detailed enough to impress bankers and potential investors, while giving you the tools to start, run, and grow a successful business.

• The basics of business planning

If you’re reading this guide, then you already know why you need a business plan . 

You understand that planning helps you: 

• Raise money
• Grow strategically
• Keep your business on the right track 

As you start to write your plan, it’s useful to zoom out and remember what a business plan is .

At its core, a business plan is an overview of the products and services you sell, and the customers that you sell to. It explains your business strategy: how you’re going to build and grow your business, what your marketing strategy is, and who your competitors are.

Most business plans also include financial forecasts for the future. These set sales goals, budget for expenses, and predict profits and cash flow. 

A good business plan is much more than just a document that you write once and forget about. It’s also a guide that helps you outline and achieve your goals. 

After completing your plan, you can use it as a management tool to track your progress toward your goals. Updating and adjusting your forecasts and budgets as you go is one of the most important steps you can take to run a healthier, smarter business. 

We’ll dive into how to use your plan later in this article.

There are many different types of plans , but we’ll go over the most common type here, which includes everything you need for an investor-ready plan. However, if you’re just starting out and are looking for something simpler—I recommend starting with a one-page business plan . It’s faster and easier to create. 

It’s also the perfect place to start if you’re just figuring out your idea, or need a simple strategic plan to use inside your business.

Dig deeper : How to write a one-page business plan

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• What to include in your business plan

Executive summary

The executive summary is an overview of your business and your plans. It comes first in your plan and is ideally just one to two pages. Most people write it last because it’s a summary of the complete business plan.

Ideally, the executive summary can act as a stand-alone document that covers the highlights of your detailed plan. 

In fact, it’s common for investors to ask only for the executive summary when evaluating your business. If they like what they see in the executive summary, they’ll often follow up with a request for a complete plan, a pitch presentation , or more in-depth financial forecasts .

Your executive summary should include:

• A summary of the problem you are solving
• A description of your product or service
• An overview of your target market
• A brief description of your team
• A summary of your financials
• Your funding requirements (if you are raising money)

Dig Deeper: How to write an effective executive summary

Products and services description

This is where you describe exactly what you’re selling, and how it solves a problem for your target market. The best way to organize this part of your plan is to start by describing the problem that exists for your customers. After that, you can describe how you plan to solve that problem with your product or service. 

This is usually called a problem and solution statement .

To truly showcase the value of your products and services, you need to craft a compelling narrative around your offerings. How will your product or service transform your customers’ lives or jobs? A strong narrative will draw in your readers.

This is also the part of the business plan to discuss any competitive advantages you may have, like specific intellectual property or patents that protect your product. If you have any initial sales, contracts, or other evidence that your product or service is likely to sell, include that information as well. It will show that your idea has traction , which can help convince readers that your plan has a high chance of success.

Market analysis

Your target market is a description of the type of people that you plan to sell to. You might even have multiple target markets, depending on your business. 

A market analysis is the part of your plan where you bring together all of the information you know about your target market. Basically, it’s a thorough description of who your customers are and why they need what you’re selling. You’ll also include information about the growth of your market and your industry .

Try to be as specific as possible when you describe your market. 

Include information such as age, income level, and location—these are what’s called “demographics.” If you can, also describe your market’s interests and habits as they relate to your business—these are “psychographics.” 

Related: Target market examples

Essentially, you want to include any knowledge you have about your customers that is relevant to how your product or service is right for them. With a solid target market, it will be easier to create a sales and marketing plan that will reach your customers. That’s because you know who they are, what they like to do, and the best ways to reach them.

Next, provide any additional information you have about your market. 

What is the size of your market ? Is the market growing or shrinking? Ideally, you’ll want to demonstrate that your market is growing over time, and also explain how your business is positioned to take advantage of any expected changes in your industry.

Dig Deeper: Learn how to write a market analysis

Competitive analysis

Part of defining your business opportunity is determining what your competitive advantage is. To do this effectively, you need to know as much about your competitors as your target customers. 

Every business has some form of competition. If you don’t think you have competitors, then explore what alternatives there are in the market for your product or service. 

For example: In the early years of cars, their main competition was horses. For social media, the early competition was reading books, watching TV, and talking on the phone.

A good competitive analysis fully lays out the competitive landscape and then explains how your business is different. Maybe your products are better made, or cheaper, or your customer service is superior. Maybe your competitive advantage is your location – a wide variety of factors can ultimately give you an advantage.

Dig Deeper: How to write a competitive analysis for your business plan

Marketing and sales plan

The marketing and sales plan covers how you will position your product or service in the market, the marketing channels and messaging you will use, and your sales tactics. 

The best place to start with a marketing plan is with a positioning statement . 

This explains how your business fits into the overall market, and how you will explain the advantages of your product or service to customers. You’ll use the information from your competitive analysis to help you with your positioning. 

For example: You might position your company as the premium, most expensive but the highest quality option in the market. Or your positioning might focus on being locally owned and that shoppers support the local economy by buying your products.

Once you understand your positioning, you’ll bring this together with the information about your target market to create your marketing strategy . 

This is how you plan to communicate your message to potential customers. Depending on who your customers are and how they purchase products like yours, you might use many different strategies, from social media advertising to creating a podcast. Your marketing plan is all about how your customers discover who you are and why they should consider your products and services. 

While your marketing plan is about reaching your customers—your sales plan will describe the actual sales process once a customer has decided that they’re interested in what you have to offer. 

If your business requires salespeople and a long sales process, describe that in this section. If your customers can “self-serve” and just make purchases quickly on your website, describe that process. 

A good sales plan picks up where your marketing plan leaves off. The marketing plan brings customers in the door and the sales plan is how you close the deal.

Together, these specific plans paint a picture of how you will connect with your target audience, and how you will turn them into paying customers.

Dig deeper: What to include in your sales and marketing plan

Business operations

The operations section describes the necessary requirements for your business to run smoothly. It’s where you talk about how your business works and what day-to-day operations look like. 

Depending on how your business is structured, your operations plan may include elements of the business like:

• Supply chain management
• Manufacturing processes
• Equipment and technology
• Distribution

Some businesses distribute their products and reach their customers through large retailers like Amazon.com, Walmart, Target, and grocery store chains. 

These businesses should review how this part of their business works. The plan should discuss the logistics and costs of getting products onto store shelves and any potential hurdles the business may have to overcome.

If your business is much simpler than this, that’s OK. This section of your business plan can be either extremely short or more detailed, depending on the type of business you are building.

For businesses selling services, such as physical therapy or online software, you can use this section to describe the technology you’ll leverage, what goes into your service, and who you will partner with to deliver your services.

Dig Deeper: Learn how to write the operations chapter of your plan

Key milestones and metrics

Although it’s not required to complete your business plan, mapping out key business milestones and the metrics can be incredibly useful for measuring your success.

Good milestones clearly lay out the parameters of the task and set expectations for their execution. You’ll want to include:

• A description of each task
• The proposed due date
• Who is responsible for each task

If you have a budget, you can include projected costs to hit each milestone. You don’t need extensive project planning in this section—just list key milestones you want to hit and when you plan to hit them. This is your overall business roadmap. 

Possible milestones might be:

• Website launch date
• Store or office opening date
• First significant sales
• Break even date
• Business licenses and approvals

You should also discuss the key numbers you will track to determine your success. Some common metrics worth tracking include:

• Conversion rates
• Customer acquisition costs
• Profit per customer
• Repeat purchases

It’s perfectly fine to start with just a few metrics and grow the number you are tracking over time. You also may find that some metrics simply aren’t relevant to your business and can narrow down what you’re tracking.

Dig Deeper: How to use milestones in your business plan

Organization and management team

Investors don’t just look for great ideas—they want to find great teams. Use this chapter to describe your current team and who you need to hire . You should also provide a quick overview of your location and history if you’re already up and running.

Briefly highlight the relevant experiences of each key team member in the company. It’s important to make the case for why yours is the right team to turn an idea into a reality. 

Do they have the right industry experience and background? Have members of the team had entrepreneurial successes before? 

If you still need to hire key team members, that’s OK. Just note those gaps in this section.

Your company overview should also include a summary of your company’s current business structure . The most common business structures include:

• Sole proprietor
• Partnership

Be sure to provide an overview of how the business is owned as well. Does each business partner own an equal portion of the business? How is ownership divided? 

Potential lenders and investors will want to know the structure of the business before they will consider a loan or investment.

Dig Deeper: How to write about your company structure and team

Financial plan

Last, but certainly not least, is your financial plan chapter. 

Entrepreneurs often find this section the most daunting. But, business financials for most startups are less complicated than you think, and a business degree is certainly not required to build a solid financial forecast. 

A typical financial forecast in a business plan includes the following:

• Sales forecast : An estimate of the sales expected over a given period. You’ll break down your forecast into the key revenue streams that you expect to have.
• Expense budget : Your planned spending such as personnel costs , marketing expenses, and taxes.
• Profit & Loss : Brings together your sales and expenses and helps you calculate planned profits.
• Cash Flow : Shows how cash moves into and out of your business. It can predict how much cash you’ll have on hand at any given point in the future.
• Balance Sheet : A list of the assets, liabilities, and equity in your company. In short, it provides an overview of the financial health of your business. 

A strong business plan will include a description of assumptions about the future, and potential risks that could impact the financial plan. Including those will be especially important if you’re writing a business plan to pursue a loan or other investment.

Dig Deeper: How to create financial forecasts and budgets

This is the place for additional data, charts, or other information that supports your plan.

Including an appendix can significantly enhance the credibility of your plan by showing readers that you’ve thoroughly considered the details of your business idea, and are backing your ideas up with solid data.

Just remember that the information in the appendix is meant to be supplementary. Your business plan should stand on its own, even if the reader skips this section.

Dig Deeper : What to include in your business plan appendix

Optional: Business plan cover page

Adding a business plan cover page can make your plan, and by extension your business, seem more professional in the eyes of potential investors, lenders, and partners. It serves as the introduction to your document and provides necessary contact information for stakeholders to reference.

Your cover page should be simple and include:

• Company logo
• Business name
• Value proposition (optional)
• Business plan title
• Completion and/or update date
• Address and contact information
• Confidentiality statement

Just remember, the cover page is optional. If you decide to include it, keep it very simple and only spend a short amount of time putting it together.

Dig Deeper: How to create a business plan cover page

How to use AI to help write your business plan

Generative AI tools such as ChatGPT can speed up the business plan writing process and help you think through concepts like market segmentation and competition. These tools are especially useful for taking ideas that you provide and converting them into polished text for your business plan.

The best way to use AI for your business plan is to leverage it as a collaborator , not a replacement for human creative thinking and ingenuity. 

AI can come up with lots of ideas and act as a brainstorming partner. It’s up to you to filter through those ideas and figure out which ones are realistic enough to resonate with your customers. 

There are pros and cons of using AI to help with your business plan . So, spend some time understanding how it can be most helpful before just outsourcing the job to AI.

Learn more: 10 AI prompts you need to write a business plan

• Writing tips and strategies

To help streamline the business plan writing process, here are a few tips and key questions to answer to make sure you get the most out of your plan and avoid common mistakes .  

Determine why you are writing a business plan

Knowing why you are writing a business plan will determine your approach to your planning project. 

For example: If you are writing a business plan for yourself, or just to use inside your own business , you can probably skip the section about your team and organizational structure. 

If you’re raising money, you’ll want to spend more time explaining why you’re looking to raise the funds and exactly how you will use them.

Regardless of how you intend to use your business plan , think about why you are writing and what you’re trying to get out of the process before you begin.

Keep things concise

Probably the most important tip is to keep your business plan short and simple. There are no prizes for long business plans . The longer your plan is, the less likely people are to read it. 

So focus on trimming things down to the essentials your readers need to know. Skip the extended, wordy descriptions and instead focus on creating a plan that is easy to read —using bullets and short sentences whenever possible.

Have someone review your business plan

Writing a business plan in a vacuum is never a good idea. Sometimes it’s helpful to zoom out and check if your plan makes sense to someone else. You also want to make sure that it’s easy to read and understand.

Don’t wait until your plan is “done” to get a second look. Start sharing your plan early, and find out from readers what questions your plan leaves unanswered. This early review cycle will help you spot shortcomings in your plan and address them quickly, rather than finding out about them right before you present your plan to a lender or investor.

If you need a more detailed review, you may want to explore hiring a professional plan writer to thoroughly examine it.

Use a free business plan template and business plan examples to get started

Knowing what information to include in a business plan is sometimes not quite enough. If you’re struggling to get started or need additional guidance, it may be worth using a business plan template. 

There are plenty of great options available (we’ve rounded up our 8 favorites to streamline your search).

But, if you’re looking for a free downloadable business plan template , you can get one right now; download the template used by more than 1 million businesses. 

Or, if you just want to see what a completed business plan looks like, check out our library of over 550 free business plan examples . 

We even have a growing list of industry business planning guides with tips for what to focus on depending on your business type.

Common pitfalls and how to avoid them

It’s easy to make mistakes when you’re writing your business plan. Some entrepreneurs get sucked into the writing and research process, and don’t focus enough on actually getting their business started. 

Here are a few common mistakes and how to avoid them:

Not talking to your customers : This is one of the most common mistakes. It’s easy to assume that your product or service is something that people want. Before you invest too much in your business and too much in the planning process, make sure you talk to your prospective customers and have a good understanding of their needs.

• Overly optimistic sales and profit forecasts: By nature, entrepreneurs are optimistic about the future. But it’s good to temper that optimism a little when you’re planning, and make sure your forecasts are grounded in reality. 
• Spending too much time planning: Yes, planning is crucial. But you also need to get out and talk to customers, build prototypes of your product and figure out if there’s a market for your idea. Make sure to balance planning with building.
• Not revising the plan: Planning is useful, but nothing ever goes exactly as planned. As you learn more about what’s working and what’s not—revise your plan, your budgets, and your revenue forecast. Doing so will provide a more realistic picture of where your business is going, and what your financial needs will be moving forward.
• Not using the plan to manage your business: A good business plan is a management tool. Don’t just write it and put it on the shelf to collect dust – use it to track your progress and help you reach your goals.
• Presenting your business plan

The planning process forces you to think through every aspect of your business and answer questions that you may not have thought of. That’s the real benefit of writing a business plan – the knowledge you gain about your business that you may not have been able to discover otherwise.

With all of this knowledge, you’re well prepared to convert your business plan into a pitch presentation to present your ideas. 

A pitch presentation is a summary of your plan, just hitting the highlights and key points. It’s the best way to present your business plan to investors and team members.

Dig Deeper: Learn what key slides should be included in your pitch deck

Use your business plan to manage your business

One of the biggest benefits of planning is that it gives you a tool to manage your business better. With a revenue forecast, expense budget, and projected cash flow, you know your targets and where you are headed.

And yet, nothing ever goes exactly as planned – it’s the nature of business.

That’s where using your plan as a management tool comes in. The key to leveraging it for your business is to review it periodically and compare your forecasts and projections to your actual results.

Start by setting up a regular time to review the plan – a monthly review is a good starting point. During this review, answer questions like:

• Did you meet your sales goals?
• Is spending following your budget?
• Has anything gone differently than what you expected?

Now that you see whether you’re meeting your goals or are off track, you can make adjustments and set new targets. 

Maybe you’re exceeding your sales goals and should set new, more aggressive goals. In that case, maybe you should also explore more spending or hiring more employees. 

Or maybe expenses are rising faster than you projected. If that’s the case, you would need to look at where you can cut costs.

A plan, and a method for comparing your plan to your actual results , is the tool you need to steer your business toward success.

Learn More: How to run a regular plan review

Free business plan templates and examples

Kickstart your business plan writing with one of our free business plan templates or recommended tools.

Free business plan template

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How to write a business plan FAQ

What is a business plan?

A document that describes your business , the products and services you sell, and the customers that you sell to. It explains your business strategy, how you’re going to build and grow your business, what your marketing strategy is, and who your competitors are.

What are the benefits of a business plan?

A business plan helps you understand where you want to go with your business and what it will take to get there. It reduces your overall risk, helps you uncover your business’s potential, attracts investors, and identifies areas for growth.

Having a business plan ultimately makes you more confident as a business owner and more likely to succeed for a longer period of time.

What are the 7 steps of a business plan?

The seven steps to writing a business plan include:

• Write a brief executive summary
• Describe your products and services.
• Conduct market research and compile data into a cohesive market analysis.
• Describe your marketing and sales strategy.
• Outline your organizational structure and management team.
• Develop financial projections for sales, revenue, and cash flow.
• Add any additional documents to your appendix.

What are the 5 most common business plan mistakes?

There are plenty of mistakes that can be made when writing a business plan. However, these are the 5 most common that you should do your best to avoid:

• 1. Not taking the planning process seriously.
• Having unrealistic financial projections or incomplete financial information.
• Inconsistent information or simple mistakes.
• Failing to establish a sound business model.
• Not having a defined purpose for your business plan.

What questions should be answered in a business plan?

Writing a business plan is all about asking yourself questions about your business and being able to answer them through the planning process. You’ll likely be asking dozens and dozens of questions for each section of your plan.

However, these are the key questions you should ask and answer with your business plan:

• How will your business make money?
• Is there a need for your product or service?
• Who are your customers?
• How are you different from the competition?
• How will you reach your customers?
• How will you measure success?

How long should a business plan be?

The length of your business plan fully depends on what you intend to do with it. From the SBA and traditional lender point of view, a business plan needs to be whatever length necessary to fully explain your business. This means that you prove the viability of your business, show that you understand the market, and have a detailed strategy in place.

If you intend to use your business plan for internal management purposes, you don’t necessarily need a full 25-50 page business plan. Instead, you can start with a one-page plan to get all of the necessary information in place.

What are the different types of business plans?

While all business plans cover similar categories, the style and function fully depend on how you intend to use your plan. Here are a few common business plan types worth considering.

Traditional business plan: The tried-and-true traditional business plan is a formal document meant to be used when applying for funding or pitching to investors. This type of business plan follows the outline above and can be anywhere from 10-50 pages depending on the amount of detail included, the complexity of your business, and what you include in your appendix.

Business model canvas: The business model canvas is a one-page template designed to demystify the business planning process. It removes the need for a traditional, copy-heavy business plan, in favor of a single-page outline that can help you and outside parties better explore your business idea.

One-page business plan: This format is a simplified version of the traditional plan that focuses on the core aspects of your business. You’ll typically stick with bullet points and single sentences. It’s most useful for those exploring ideas, needing to validate their business model, or who need an internal plan to help them run and manage their business.

Lean Plan: The Lean Plan is less of a specific document type and more of a methodology. It takes the simplicity and styling of the one-page business plan and turns it into a process for you to continuously plan, test, review, refine, and take action based on performance. It’s faster, keeps your plan concise, and ensures that your plan is always up-to-date.

What’s the difference between a business plan and a strategic plan?

A business plan covers the “who” and “what” of your business. It explains what your business is doing right now and how it functions. The strategic plan explores long-term goals and explains “how” the business will get there. It encourages you to look more intently toward the future and how you will achieve your vision.

However, when approached correctly, your business plan can actually function as a strategic plan as well. If kept lean, you can define your business, outline strategic steps, and track ongoing operations all with a single plan.

Noah is the COO at Palo Alto Software, makers of the online business plan app LivePlan. He started his career at Yahoo! and then helped start the user review site Epinions.com. From there he started a software distribution business in the UK before coming to Palo Alto Software to run the marketing and product teams.

Table of Contents

• Use AI to help write your plan
• Common planning mistakes
• Manage with your business plan
• Templates and examples

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Free Project Milestone Templates

By Kate Eby | January 6, 2020

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This article sources the best, most useful templates to help you identify, manage, and track your next project. You’ll find templates in a wide variety of formats, including Microsoft Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and PDF.

Included on this page, you'll find a project milestone template , a project timeline with milestones template , a milestone list template , and many more helpful templates.

Project Milestone Template

Track each project milestone, both on a visual timeline and on a static chart, with this detailed project milestone template. Identify who is assigned to each task, the status of each task, and any comments that accompany those tasks. Use the status key to see which tasks have yet to be started, which are on hold, and which are in progress. 

Download Project Milestone Template - Excel

Project Timeline with Milestones Template

Map out your project and each individual task across a predetermined timeline with this project timeline with milestones template. Show each task across a certain timeline, such as by month, quarter, or year, so you can get an accurate portrayal of the work left to be completed. Point out specific milestones that your team needs to hit in order to maintain the project timeline.

Download Project Timeline with Milestones Template - Excel 

Acquisition Milestone Schedule Template

Plan out every important milestone associated with your business acquisition. This template offers columns to identify and document milestones, start and end dates, and additional comments, so you can be confident that your acquisition — and all of its necessary actions — will be taken seriously.

Download Acquisition Milestone Schedule Template - Excel 

Milestone Roadmap Template

Create a visual roadmap to better manage and track all project milestones with this milestone roadmap template. Break down each milestone by quarter, and use the status key to view the status of each milestone (e.g., planning, approved, developed, or launched). Stay on top of your project by knowing which milestones you’ve reached (and which ones you have yet to hit) with this helpful template.

Download Milestone Roadmap Template

Excel | Word | PPT

Project Milestone Tracker Template

With this project milestone tracker template, you can track all of the milestones associated with your project, campaign, or launch to ensure a timely delivery. Document each milestone in a linear format, identify its priority level and deadline, and assign a team member to each task required to hit each milestone. You can even document how much time and money each deliverable will cost.

Download Project Milestone Tracker Template - Excel 

Company Milestone Template

Keep your entire company on track and give everyone visibility into in-progress milestones with this company milestone template. Deliver a high-level overview of the key milestones in each project, so both internal and external stakeholders can see how projects are progressing.

Download Company Milestone Template

Excel | Word | PDF

Milestone Trend Analysis Template

With this milestone trend analysis template, you can compare planned-versus-actual milestone dates to see how you’re tracking overall and to improve future planning efforts. Plot your milestones, planned deliverable dates, and the actual deliverable dates to determine which milestones you hit, which you didn’t, and whether or not you need to adjust the way you identify deadlines.

Download Milestone Trend Analysis Template - Excel

Milestone List Template

Use this milestone list template to document all of your milestones, determine whether or not they need to be hit, track their completion dates, and indicate who approved each milestone. Track the number of milestones in your project and assign resources appropriately using this simple template.

Download Milestone List Template

Excel | PDF

Plan of Action with Milestones Template

With this plan of action with milestones template, you can plan your project by identifying actions and goals, and then listing and tracking your milestones simultaneously. Determine who is responsible for each task that leads up to each milestone, track status, and update start and end dates with this comprehensive template.

Download Plan of Action with Milestones Template - Excel

Multi-Stage Timeline Template

When your project, campaign, or launch is comprised of multiple stages, use this template to break down your assignment into smaller parts, so you can better identify milestones — and all the tasks associated with each one. Give high-level insight into how milestones define your project, and use this information as the basis for tracking how your project progresses and mitigating any issues that might arise. 

Download Multi-Stage Timeline Template

Excel | PPT

Successfully Hit Project Milestones with Smartsheet for Project Management

From simple task management and project planning to complex resource and portfolio management, Smartsheet helps you improve collaboration and increase work velocity -- empowering you to get more done. 

The Smartsheet platform makes it easy to plan, capture, manage, and report on work from anywhere, helping your team be more effective and get more done. Report on key metrics and get real-time visibility into work as it happens with roll-up reports, dashboards, and automated workflows built to keep your team connected and informed.

When teams have clarity into the work getting done, there’s no telling how much more they can accomplish in the same amount of time. Try Smartsheet for free, today.

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What Are Milestones in Project Management?

What Is a Project Milestone?

A project milestone is a project planning tool that’s used to mark a point in a project schedule. Project milestones can note the start and finish of a project, mark the completion of a major phase of work or anything that’s worth highlighting in a project, such as the production of project deliverables. Milestones help project teams coordinate their efforts by helping everybody understand the objectives of the project and the action steps that must be taken to achieve them.

Project milestones help project teams focus on major progress points in a project, which helps project managers with project planning and scheduling. Just as tasks break a larger project into manageable parts, milestones break down project phases to help project managers plan, schedule and execute them.

The Importance of Milestones in Project Management

Project milestones provide a way to more accurately estimate the time it’ll take to complete your project by marking important dates and events, making them essential for precise project planning and scheduling. Because of their versatility, milestones are an important element of project documents such as the project schedule, project charter and project plan.

They’re also used in scheduling methodologies, such as the critical path method (CPM), or project management tools like Gantt charts , which can determine major scheduling periods. With project milestones, you can better calculate the slack in your project by segmenting the project timeline into intervals, or smaller time frames to control and track progress.

Project management software, like ProjectManager , makes it easy to build a schedule with project milestones. Use our online Gantt charts to quickly build a project schedule with phases, subtasks, milestones and dependencies. Try it free today.

Now that we’ve defined what project milestones are and why they’re important in project management, let’s explore the milestone planning process.

What Is a Milestone Chart?

A milestone chart is a visual project planning tool that uses milestones to divide a project plan into major phases. Due to its simplicity, it’s used when project managers or sponsors need to share an overview of the project schedule with stakeholders or team members without going over every project task.

You can create a milestone chart using a timeline maker or even by hand, but if you’re a project manager, it’s recommended that you use project management software like ProjectManager. That’s because Gantt charts are the best tool to create a milestone plan. Let’s take a look at a project milestone chart example made with ProjectManager’s online Gantt chart .

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Project Milestone Chart Template

Use this free Project Milestone Chart Template to manage your projects better.

What Is Milestone Planning?

The term milestone planning refers to the process of marking milestones on a project schedule . Milestone planning is primarily done by project managers who will find critical points in the project life cycle and mark them as project milestones so that their team understands what are the key deliverables, activities or phases that need to be completed.

By marking these critical points with project milestones, both project managers and team members can easily track important steps in the project life cycle and better understand what needs to be done and when. The milestone planning process is usually done with the help of milestone charts, also referred to as milestone schedules. Milestone charts allow project managers to create a milestone plan or milestone schedule, a visual timeline that shows project milestones over a timeframe.

Project Milestone Plan Example

The image below shows a Gantt chart that was made to plan and schedule a construction project. On the left side you can see a list of tasks, which can be marked as project milestones. Then, on the right side, there are project milestones, marked with diamond symbols which in this case are “bid date,” referring to the date when a construction bid is submitted and “start design work” which is when architects and engineers will start working on the construction design, after the feasibility study and permit application steps.

More importantly, ProjectManager’s Gantt chart goes beyond milestone planning as it not only shows the milestones but also all the tasks that are in between them for better project tracking.

How to Decide What’s a Project Milestone

As discussed above, project management milestones measure progress by breaking a project into phases. According to the project management institute (PMI), there are typically five phases in project management: initiation, planning, execution , monitoring & controlling and closure. But when exactly do you add milestones?

The simple answer is when you’ve completed everything related to that project phase. For example, completing the project charter is usually the last step in the initiation phase of a project. This would be when you place your project milestone to indicate you’re moving from initiation to planning.

However, the exact point at which you want to set your milestones might vary depending on your project, your organization and other factors. It’s always best to seek help from project management experts. A little guidance upfront can save a lot of headaches later on.

Milestones are more of a period in time rather than the specific completion of tasks or project deliverables, so the question arises, can you have milestones that don’t relate to project phases? The short answer is yes. You can set any sort of milestones in project management . Traditionally, they break projects into phases, but you can choose to create a milestone to indicate a big task, important event, deliverable or more.

Project Milestones Examples

What could be better to explain how to use milestones in project management than some examples? Let’s look at some common project milestones examples for each phase of the project life cycle .

Project Initiation Milestones

• Assembling a project team: You need a project team who will be responsible for executing the tasks that will ultimately deliver the project. Find team members with the skills and experience needed for the project.
• Project kick-off meeting: This is the first meeting with the whole project team and the project client or stakeholders. You’ll want to establish goals and state the purpose of the project to get everyone on the same page.
• Getting your project charter approved: The project charter is like an elevator pitch for the project, stating the objectives, scope and stakeholders involved. The project sponsor will approve the project by signing the charter.
• Securing financing, equipment or resources: Naturally, a project is just an idea without the funding to pay for the resources that will execute the project tasks. One project milestone is securing those funds.

Project Planning Milestones

• Defining the project scope: The project scope is everything that’ll be done on the project. It lists goals, deliverables, tasks and more.
• Estimating project costs: To budget the project, you have to estimate how much it’ll cost . This is done by using historical data and estimating the specific costs of every resource and the duration of that resource in the project.
• Creating a project budget: Once you have the costs estimated, you can create an accurate project budget . This will outline the costs of everything in the project, from start to finish.
• Creating a project schedule: The project has a start date and an end date. That’s its duration. Between those two points, you must chart each phase and the tasks within it on a timeline that shows the project’s schedule.
• Completing your project plan: The project plan is a document that outlines the project, including its execution and how it’ll be monitored and controlled. Completing the project plan is a milestone.
• Getting your project plan approved: Once the project sponsor or client looks over the project plan, schedule, etc., they will sign off on it. Now the project execution can begin.

Project Execution Milestones

• Begin the execution phase: This is when the work of delivering the project goals begins. The teams are assigned and tasks are completed.
• Producing key project deliverables: There’s more than one deliverable. The final deliverable marks the end of the project, but there are other deliverables throughout the project.
• Completing critical tasks: The critical tasks are those that must be completed to successfully complete the project. You can identify these by finding the critical path.
• Reaching project goals and objectives: The project is all about achieving its goals and objectives. These can be marked off and celebrated as milestones.

Project Closing Milestones

• Creating a project punch list: In construction projects, a punch list is used to list the last work that remains in a project. These items must be completed before the project can be considered done.
• Getting approval from stakeholders to close the project: Finally, a project isn’t done until the project sponsor or client signs off on it. Then all documentation can be signed and archived and the project team released.

These milestone examples apply to any project regardless of its industry. However, as a project manager , you’re free to define the project milestones that you need to help you plan, execute and track your project progress.

To get a better understanding of how to use milestones in a real project plan, try ProjectManager’s free project milestone template

The project milestone template opens in the Gantt chart project view of ProjectManager . This free milestone planning template lets you visualize your project plan, with the tasks to the left and the timeline to the right. As you can see, the diamond icons on the right indicate where there’s a project milestone.

Besides identifying project milestones, this template can be used to identify the critical path of your project, assign work to your team members and identify task and milestone dependencies. The milestones in ProjectManager’s free milestone schedule template can be set to start-to-start, start-to-finish, finish-to-finish and finish-to-start.

Why Should You Use Project Milestones?

Part of scheduling a project is being able to monitor and track the progress of that project schedule in real-time. Milestone charts are a way to track how far you’ve come in the project. By noting the completed milestones, you can measure the distance you are from the finish line of a project.

This comes in handy when you’re dealing with stakeholders . Stakeholders aren’t interested in a granular, detailed report on the project’s progress. They want broad strokes that indicate whether or not the project is moving along as scheduled. A milestone chart is ideal for this kind of reporting because milestones show the major phases you’ve finished at this point in the project, according to your plan.

When you’re presenting a milestone schedule to stakeholders, you can show them the milestones you completed this month and the ones you’re on track to complete for the coming month— and whether or not the milestones were reached as planned or if there were any delays.

How to Report When a Project Milestone Has Been Reached

How do you know if you’ve in fact achieved the goals set out for a project phase? Without knowing the objectives and key performance indicators you planned to reach upon the close of your project milestone, it’s an empty victory.

Project reporting can respond to this situation. Generate a status report and get a look at the overall health of your project. Did you complete your tasks on time, within the budget you set? For example, you might have noticed a change in your project scope. Perhaps there’s been some slippage and you’re behind schedule. That’s not a milestone to celebrate.

However, it’s also not a cause for undue alarm. Changes are part of any project. The problems arise when those changes aren’t responded to. By running a status report you know what’s changed and its impact on the project. Now you can work toward getting back on schedule. When you reach your next milestone, run more reports to track your progress and make sure you’re staying on track.

Project Milestone Planning Can Be Fun!

While you’ll mostly use milestones for the nuts and bolts of scheduling, they’re also useful for celebrating project achievements. Obviously, once a project milestone has been reached, it’s because the team has done something right, like completing a project phase or producing an important deliverable. Why not use this opportunity to congratulate them?

Celebrate success in whatever manner is right for you and the project team. It can be as simple as a handshake or a note to the team members. Maybe you want to treat them to lunch or offer a bonus. Whatever the case, acknowledging your team’s achievement pays off in dividends in the forms of employee retention, team loyalty and project buy-in. You’re also fostering a positive relationship with your team and building trust, which is instrumental to a productive project. Using project management software with team collaboration tools helps you ensure everybody is aware of these initiatives.

How to Manage Project Milestones with ProjectManager’s Gantt Chart

With our award-winning online Gantt charts, ProjectManager lets you take full advantage of milestones. This interactive planning tool takes the complexity out of creating and editing a Gantt chart. When you’re planning the project, just add the tasks and their duration, including the due date, and the Gantt chart will populate the timeline automatically.

1. List Your Project Tasks

Use a work breakdown structure (WBS) to figure out your deliverables and the tasks associated with them. Then on the left side of the Gantt chart, you can add all these tasks, breaking them into project phases. Once you add the start and end dates to these tasks, they’ll automatically populate the timeline to the right of the Gantt chart.

2. Identify Project Milestones

Now you need to identify milestones in your project. They can be used to separate the project phases, but as we explained earlier there are many different deliverables that you can make milestones in your project. Choose the ones that’ll help you monitor your progress, but also think of a milestone as a reason to congratulate the project team and have a celebration to help with morale. Milestones can be added to the Gantt chart by adding the milestone diamond icon.

3. Create a Milestone Schedule

With ProjectManager, you can easily assign tasks to your team members and watch their progress as they move toward achieving project milestones. Our Gantt chart software also provides your team with a platform for collaboration . Use it to share updates and files and enable dialogues at the task level. You can even set up automatic alerts to make sure milestones are met.

4. Link Project Milestones

Milestones, like tasks, can be linked. That’s when the phase of one milestone cannot begin until the completion of the phase before it. That way, you’re not blocking team members by having them wait or by not allowing them what they need to move forward with their tasks.

5. Track Your Milestone Plan

When you’ve completed your project schedule add a baseline. This captures the schedule and allows you to track its progress in real time by comparing the planned effort against your actual effort. You can get a high-level overview of progress by toggling over to the real-time dashboard , which automatically tracks costs, time, tasks, workload and more with easy-to-read graphs and charts. There’s no setup required as with lightweight alternatives. It’s ready when you are.

Reporting on milestones for stakeholders is also streamlined because you can view progress in real-time and, with your dashboard, turn that data into clear and colorful charts that can be shared however you see fit. Milestones have never been easier to use.

Milestones are just one of the many project management tools you get when using ProjectManager . Our online project management software provides online Gantt charts with milestones, real-time data, and a collaborative platform to make you and your team more efficient and productive. See how it can help you manage projects by taking a free 30-day trial today!

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Top 10 Project Milestone Templates with Samples and Examples

Kavesh Malhotra

Projects are not just a collection of tasks; they're a journey from start to finish.

                                                                         - Russel Honore, Retired Lieutenant General, U.S. First Army

Every project has several key moments that need to be tracked, measured, and celebrated as well. These moments are the project milestones. They act as signposts throughout the project journey, marking the completion of significant phases of the work and signaling progress toward project objectives.

Project milestones play a critical role in project planning. They help managers, heads, and other stakeholders stay on track, monitor progress, and stay within budget and on time. Without project milestones, it's difficult to measure the progress of a project, and challenging to identify and resolve issues.

A survey by PMI (Project Management Institute) revealed that 84% of high-performing organizations use project milestones to track progress. Furthermore, organizations that use project milestones are 27% more likely to complete their projects within budget and 31% more likely to complete them on time.

Are you tired of manually managing project milestones? Do you want to streamline your project planning process and achieve success effortlessly? Look no further! Our pre-designed PowerPoint slides offer a game-changing solution for project management. 

To help you manage your project milestones efficiently, SlideTeam has compiled a list of the Top 10 Project Milestone Templates that you can download right away to assist you in keeping your project(s) on time and on track. 

By downloading these customizable PPT Presets you can unlock a world of structured content-ready slides that will help you manage your project milestones easily. From Gantt charts to milestone plans, our PowerPoint Decks have got you covered. So why wait? Download one of these templates today and take the first step toward achieving project success like a pro!

Template 1: Project Milestones Plan PowerPoint Presentation Slides

This comprehensive PowerPoint Deck is designed to assist you in creating an effective milestone plan for your projects. It includes visually appealing slides covering various aspects, such as defining milestones plans, setting annual and month-wise timelines, tracking progress, and highlighting key deliverables. With customizable icons, this slide deck enables you to create a well-structured milestone plan tailored to your specific project needs. Take your project management to the zenith with this bundle.

Download Now!

Template 2: Gantt Chart for The Month Covering Project Milestone

This Gantt chart layout is ideal for visualizing project milestones over a specific period. Its intuitive design allows you to create a timeline-based representation of your project milestones, making it easy to track progress and identify dependencies. The Gantt chart provides a crystal-clear overview of the project schedule, allowing you to manage deadlines and allocate resources effectively. Customize the graph to fit your project's timeline and milestones and ensure smooth execution. Stay on top of your project timelines with our Gantt Chart for Project Milestones. Grab your copy today!

Template 3: Three Project Milestones with Deliverables Infographic Template

This infographic template highlights three key project milestones and their associated deliverables. The design makes it easy to communicate the significance of each milestone and showcase the deliverables clearly and concisely. Use this template to create engaging presentations or reports that effectively communicate project progress and accomplishments.

Template 4: Audit Status Worksheet with Project Milestones

This worksheet layout combines project milestones with audit status tracking, to help you monitor project progress and compliance. This provides a structured format for recording milestones, associated tasks, and their audit status . It enables you to track the completion of milestones, identify potential risks or issues, and maintain a comprehensive overview of the project's audit status . Download and customize the worksheet to align with your project requirements and ensure effective project monitoring.

Template 5: It Project Milestone for Software Development

Designed explicitly for IT project milestones in software development, this PPT Preset provides a comprehensive overview of the key milestones involved in the development process. It covers various stages, such as Newsletter tool integration, legal notes, ID authentication, reporting dashboard, and launch production, allowing you to track progress and ensure the successful completion of each milestone. Optimize your complex software development and enhance your project communication with this unique set. Get it today!

Template 6: Status of Project Milestones till Date PPT Presentation Summary Grid

This PowerPoint Template offers a summary grid format to track the status of project milestones. It allows you to present the progress of each milestone in a concise and organized manner. The template includes customizable grids where you can input milestone details, completion dates, and current status. Use this template to provide stakeholders with a comprehensive overview of the project's milestone achievements and keep them informed about the progress made so far.

Template 7: Monthly Multiphase Project Milestone Tracker Project Management Bundle

This bundle includes a comprehensive set of slides for tracking project milestones on a monthly basis. With multiphase tracking capabilities, it enables you to monitor the progress of milestones throughout different project phases. Utilize these templates to keep your project on track, manage dependencies, and effectively communicate milestone achievements to the project team. Grab your copy today!

Template 8: Project Milestone Gantt Chart for Complex Option Strategies

This Gantt chart template is specifically designed to manage project milestones in complex options strategies. It visually represents project timelines month-wise, milestones, and interdependencies, enabling you to plan and execute complex projects effectively. The template allows you to organize the Gantt chart based on your project requirements, ensuring clarity and transparency in milestone tracking. Use this template to overview the project's progress, identify critical milestones, and optimize your project planning and execution.

Template 9: Status of Project Milestones till Date PPT PowerPoint Presentation Picture

This PowerPoint presentation visually presents the status of project milestones to date. Its pictorial format allows you to showcase milestone progress using graphics. The preset highlights milestones, start date, end date, status, and status description. Use this template to provide stakeholders with a clear and concise overview of the project's milestone achievements, ensuring effective communication, and understanding of project progress.

Template 10: Agile Project Milestones and Backlogs Planning Agile Methodologies and Frameworks

This template focuses on agile project management methodologies and frameworks, explicitly addressing agile project milestones and backlogs. It provides a comprehensive overview of agile project planning, highlighting the importance of milestones and backlogs in iterative development. The template offers visual tools such as tables, diagrams, and agile frameworks to plan and track project milestones in an agile environment effectively. Use this template to align your project with agile principles, enhance collaboration, and ensure timely milestone achievements.

Project milestones are critical for effective project planning and project management. They help organizations stay on track, monitor progress, and achieve project objectives. Using the Top 10 Project Milestone Templates in this blog, you can manage your milestones efficiently and effectively. 

These templates offer a range of options to effectively manage and visualize project milestones, whether it's creating milestone plans, using Gantt charts, highlighting deliverables, tracking audit status , or focusing on IT project milestones . Select the deck that best suits your project requirements and leverage the power of these visual tools to enhance project management and ensure successful milestone achievement.

Professional Note:

For more resources and insights on project milestones and how to effectively manage them, visit our blog , which provides valuable information, tips, and strategies to help you navigate the world of project management and achieve successful milestones. Don't miss the opportunity to expand your horizon and enhance your project management skills. Visit our blog today!

FAQs on Project Milestone

What is a project milestone example.

Project milestones are significant events or achievements within a project that mark important progress points. Examples of project milestones can include:

• Completing a critical phase of work.
• Reaching a specific deadline.
• Obtaining necessary approvals.
• Delivering key project deliverables.

How do you write a project milestone?

When writing a project milestone, consider the following:

• Clearly define the milestone: Describe the specific event or achievement that will mark the milestone.
• Set a target date: Determine the expected completion date for the milestone.
• Identify deliverables: Specify the key deliverables associated with the milestone.
• Assign responsibilities: Assign the individuals or teams responsible for achieving the milestone.
• Establish criteria for success: Define the criteria or indicators that will demonstrate the successful completion of the milestone.

What are key milestones?

Key milestones are the events or achievements that have a significant impact on the overall progress of a project. These milestones often represent major phases or objectives within the project plan and serve as markers for tracking progress and ensuring the project stays on track. Key milestones are essential for monitoring project success and communicating progress to stakeholders.

Project milestones also help teams stay motivated by providing tangible and achievable targets. Project milestones act as a sense of accomplishment that the team can celebrate, boosting morale and increasing productivity.

What are project milestones and deliverables?

A project milestone is a specific point in a project timeline that represents the completion of a significant event or achievement. It marks the completion of a major phase of work or the attainment of an important project objective.

Deliverables, conversely, are the tangible or intangible outputs or results produced as a part of the project. They are the specific items or outcomes that are delivered to the client, stakeholders, or end-users. Project milestones and deliverables are closely related, as milestones often coincide with the completion or delivery of key project deliverables.

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Milestone definition: what it is and why it’s important for you

Searching for a milestone definition in terms of project management or business in general? You’ve come to the right place.

In this article, we’ll explain exactly what a milestone is, how you can use them in business, and showcase meaningful examples across different industries.

Get started with monday.com

Milestone definition: what does milestone mean in business?

What’s a milestone?

A milestone is a key event or action in a project or your business journey that marks a significant stage of progress.

Milestones aren’t some random stretch goals that you’re unlikely to reach. They’re key points throughout a project that prove a certain amount of progress. They should all mark that you’ve reached the next “mile” of your business journey.

That could be something as simple as landing your first customer in a new vertical or as complicated as releasing a new product prototype. Business milestones typically don’t just measure progress, but that are part of your contract. Let’s take a closer look at this specific type of milestone.

What are contractual milestones?

Contractual milestones are stages in a project where the project sponsor has agreed to pay you a certain amount of the full project price. For example, it could be finishing the first usable prototype of a product or an initial website design.

These milestones typically have due dates, and if the client doesn’t meet them, it could affect their payment. Contractual milestones are common in industries like software development, design, and manufacturing.

Why are milestones so important in project management?

According to a 2021 PMI project management study, the most common reasons for project failure are related to poor upfront planning and unforeseen change.

( Image Source )

Weak requirements gathering, poor planning, inadequate vision — these are all avoidable issues. Exploring and setting important milestones ahead of time can help you outline a clear path to success.

By breaking a project down into milestones, it’s also easier to identify clear risks and roadblocks that could impede the project. This granular upfront planning helps you avoid unwanted surprises after investing big.

For larger projects, the project milestone isn’t optional. It’s how you guarantee that the flow of the project keeps up throughout the entire duration. You can also set business growth milestones from quarter to quarter to motivate your team.

But what exactly should such a milestone look like? 

Milestone examples in different industries

Now that we’ve covered the definition of a milestone and its importance, it’s time to look at some examples in different industries.

Marketing milestones

Let’s take a look at some examples of practical marketing milestones that you could use for your own company.

There are 2 approaches to set milestones for marketing campaigns and projects.

First, you can use milestones tied to metrics like visitors, followers, or Google search engine rankings. Second, they can identify crucial moments in your company’s marketing journey. The difference between aiming for 1,000 visitors and launching your company blog is significant.

Using a combination of both approaches will often lead to the best results.

Sales milestones

Sales milestones are crucial stepping stones to completing your annual or quarterly sales goals.

Breaking it down into several different areas of opportunity, like lead generation, retention, and market expansion is a good starting point.

IT & development milestones

In IT and software development projects, there are often clear-cut milestones directly related to different transitions and natural stages. For example, when creating a website, you usually start by designing a wireframe and prototype, instead of just going straight to a live site.

Customer service milestones

In customer service, you should focus on improving key service metrics, as well as overall customer satisfaction.

Another crucial measuring stick for how your customer service is calculating is the retention and churn rates. Don’t be afraid to venture outside traditional goals to set actionable milestones for your support team.

General project management milestones

Then, there are general milestones within project management  that you can apply to just about any project.  

But whether you’re creating marketing milestones or company milestones, the process involves more than you might think.

How to create project milestones that matter: 3 best practices

The 3 best practices below will help you keep on the right track.

1. Make it something you can measure or confirm.

A milestone should be a measurable or easily confirmable significant event. It’s not just a single task on your list, like writing the headlines for an ad.

It’s a good idea to focus on increasing a key performance indicator (KPI ) by a certain percentage. For example, growing organic traffic or average deal size by 20%.

Another alternative is to focus on the completion of a key deliverable. When do you think you should finish the prototype? By setting these concrete milestones, you can work backwards and figure out exactly what you need to do to make it happen.

2. Make it achievable — not a stretch goal.

Milestones aren’t stretch goals. They’re achievable short-to-medium-term steps towards completing a larger project or business goal. Doubling your sales revenue isn’t a milestone. Getting your first sale in a new market is a suitable milestone.

Keep this in mind when breaking down larger business goals and projects into milestones.

3. Don’t add too many: highlight outcomes crucial to project success.

Milestones aren’t the same as project tasks or steps. You shouldn’t add hundreds of them.

Milestones are there to help motivate your team to keep working over the long term. You don’t need to reach a new milestone every single day. Use them sparingly, and they’ll have more impact.

You should also visualize the entire project flow so your team and managers can understand how they’re performing at every stage. The easiest way to do this is to invest in project management software. You don’t want to spend days trying to mess around with Excel templates.

Visualize your milestones and the entire project journey with monday.com

If you want a new level of control and oversight over your milestones and projects, look no further than monday.com Work OS.

With our complete Work OS platform, you can easily visualize every step of your project journey. Not only that, you can create a custom online productivity platform with automations and templates that help speed up your progress.

Visualize the entire project and all milestones with Gantt charts.

Want a granular view of how your project will play out over time? The easiest way to do this is with a Gantt chart or timeline view. Just set deadlines or expected time periods for each activity and milestone, and our software takes care of the rest.

You can also color code the items by status, whether they’re completed on time, in progress, or overdue.

Use custom templates to standardize crucial workflows.

monday.com Work OS doesn’t just let you create a high-level overview of your project. We also have detailed, workflow-specific templates you can adapt to help your team stay on track.

Control everything from marketing campaigns to content calendars, and new employee onboarding. Standardization is the key to reliable progress over the long term.

Set up integrations and automations to ensure smooth progress.

Are data silos hindering smooth collaboration between departments? Do basic human errors, like forgetting to notify an editor on time, slow down your projects?

The answer to both of these questions is very likely yes. With monday.com Work OS, you can use native integrations, like with Jira and Zendesk, to help connect teams across departments.

You can also use our automation builder to create custom notifications and automated workflows across platforms.

Milestones only help you stay on track if you use them right

Setting a random milestone, like getting your 10,000th sale, before you even embark on a project, isn’t always helpful.

Instead, you need to highlight concrete, reachable stages in the project life cycle. You don’t need to aim low, but rather be realistic. Of course, if you want to reach them, it helps if you visualize and routinely revisit these milestones and goals over the long term.

We’ve gone over the milestone definition; now it’s time to create your milestones and take your project management to the next level. 

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Project Management

A Milestone Master Plan with 9 Common Examples for Organizing Your Next Project

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To be successful at project management it’s imperative to figure out ways to effectively monitor progress and mitigate risks . That’s why it’s a good idea to identify the major milestones of your project and put together a plan for reaching them.

Milestones can help you keep track of your progress, detect potential problems, and ensure that you’re still on track for a successful outcome. Milestones simply function as checkpoints on your path to a project’s completion.

What are milestones?

Milestones can be anything from completing the design of your product to shipping the final version to customers. Milestones are any significant event that allows progress to be measured and made.

How can milestones help with project management?

Milestones allow for progress and risk mitigation by allowing regular check-ins on the status of your project as well as identifying potential issues early before they become major problems later down the road.

Milestone Importance

Monitoring progress is essential to keeping your project on track. By using milestones as checkpoints, you can ensure that your project is moving along as planned and identify any potential problems before they become bigger issues.

Milestones are also an excellent approach to managing risks by making precise objectives that may help you stay on track even if things don’t go as planned.

And finally, milestones can be used to measure the overall success of your project by evaluating how well you met your objectives and what changes, if any, need to be made for future projects.

Clearing Up Confusion

Before we get into specific examples of milestones, it’s important to clear up some confusion about the nature of milestones. Milestones are not necessarily everyday tasks, deliverables, or goals. They are significant events that happen along the way and allow you to track your progress.

Milestones can have several smaller actions or tasks associated with them to help you achieve the overall goal.

Now that we’ve cleared that up, let’s take a look at how you and your team can create milestones.

5 Super Important Tips

So, how do you go about establishing milestones for your project? There’s no such thing as a one-size-fits-all solution to this question because the milestones you establish will be different depending on the project and its intended goals.

However, here are four super important tips for creating effective milestones:

1. Be Specific

Milestones should be specific enough that anyone involved in the project can understand what they mean. It should be clear what needs to happen for the milestone to be considered reached.

For example, if your goal is to start building your online coaching program, your first milestone might be to set up your website. So you might want to create a specific task such as “Create Website Design” that needs to be completed before the milestone is considered reached.

2. Be Actionable

Milestones should also be actionable, meaning that anyone involved in the project knows what they need to do and how they’re expected to contribute at each milestone. This will allow for identifying any potential issues early before they become big problems later on down the line.

Staying with the coaching example above: the specific task was “Create Website Design” but before that milestone can be reached you notice that we need content to go with the design.

So the first milestone would shift to “Create Content” and the second would be “Create Website Design.” Note, both of these milestones are actionable. It’s very clear what needs to be done.

3. Be Measurable

Milestones should also be measurable for you to measure your progress on them and determine if things are going as planned or not. If there is confusion about what exactly needs to be done at each milestone this will allow you to clear that up and avoid confusion down the road.

To continue with our coaching program example, the specific task/milestone of “Hire Writer” might be measurable by looking at how many applications are received for the position and how many interviews are conducted.

4. Be Timely

Milestones should be timely, meaning they are set for a specific period and not open-ended. Since milestones track your progress you need to know when they’re going to happen so that you can monitor them along the way.

Because some of your team members can’t start working until a specific milestone is reached, you’ll need to know how much time they have for this project and when the milestones are going on so that work may begin.

For example, our design team is waiting for the “content” milestone before they can start working on the website. Timeliness will help create the appropriate timeline for the project.

5. Be Flexible

I say this one with caution because you don’t want to be too flexible and let things fall through the cracks. However, some events may occur that were not accounted for when initially establishing your milestones so it’s important to have a plan in place for how these situations will be handled.

For example, if our milestone “Create Website Design” is ready to begin but due to unforeseen circumstances, the content isn’t ready for it yet, what happens? Is the milestone considered reached or not and if so how does that impact your project? Flexibility will help you deal with any unexpected changes that arise.

Summary of tips

Use these tips to create effective milestones for your project.

• Be Specific
• Be Actionable
• Be Measurable
• Be Flexible

Now that we know what to keep in mind when creating milestones, let’s take a look at some specific examples of project milestones.

9 Examples of milestones

Below are nine types of milestones that you may want to consider using in your next project:

Receive Project Approval

Identify project requirements, establish start & end dates, assign team members.

• Design approval

Review Project

• Final approval (end Date)

Teams need to know that their work has been authorized to accomplish anything. Setting up an approval milestone will aid in this and make sure everyone is on the same page.

For approvals to be effective, you’ll need to have a clear way of communicating what’s been approved and identify who has the authority to approve tasks. Also, you’ll want to consider feedback from clients or stakeholders to ensure they’re happy with the work being done.

One of the most important milestones in any project is project requirements. Requirements are demands that are needed for the project to be completed. These allow you to plan for issues that may come up or anything else that could affect your timeline (or budget).

Major requirements may include the following: budget, design, features, technology, and content.

If demands are not met, the project will either need to be renegotiated or canceled outright. As such, requirements should be carefully tracked and monitored throughout the life of a project.

You simply need to answer the question: what are the major demands of the project and in what order do they need to be completed? Failing to meet demands can cause delays and even jeopardize the success of your project so it’s important to track them closely.

If there’s anything that could delay your project, it should be captured in the Requirements list.

The start and end dates of any project are the two most crucial dates. Establishing these milestones will help you measure your progress and keep things on track.

To establish timelines, you’ll need to know what the overall goal of the project is and break it down into smaller tasks that can be completed along the way.

You’ll want to take into account the amount of time each task will take and set a realistic deadline for the project as a whole.

Once you have a clear picture of what needs to be done, assigning team members is the next step. This helps you divide up tasks and establish accountability among your team for completing them promptly.

Depending on the size of your project it might make sense to assign different people or teams to each task that’s been planned out. You’ll also want to consider assigning people to tasks that they’re good at or enjoy.

This will help keep everyone happy and motivated while working on the project.

Design Approval

Any time you change the design of a website, for example, you need to get approval from the client. This type of milestone can be used in other areas of your project as well.

Typically, you’ll want to establish a design milestone when the project is about 60-70% complete. This will give your team time to make any necessary changes without putting the entire project at risk.

Project reviews are milestones that help you assess your progress and determine if things are on track. These milestones can be used multiple times throughout a project to make sure it’s going off without a hitch or issues before they become more prominent.

There should always be milestones set for assessing the overall health of a project, making course corrections as necessary.

If applicable, testing should be factored into your project milestone plan. When you’re testing, it’s important to have a clear idea of what needs to be tested and in what order.

This will help ensure that your project is working properly before being released for public or client use. Testing can include anything from beta testing a product to user acceptance testing (UAT). UAT is when you test a product or website with real users to make sure it’s ready for launch.

For example, if the website has been shown to not convert a high enough number of sales, you’ll want to find out why before going live.

Are your settings correct? Is there a compatibility issue with the client’s browser? Or perhaps something is just not quite right and needs to be changed or fixed before being released for public use.

At this point, the testing milestone will go into effect and you’ll want to determine what the issue is, how it can be resolved, and when testing will begin again.

Final Approval

The final approval milestone is the one everyone’s working towards. This is the point where the client signs off on the project and it’s considered complete.

This can also be seen as a deliverable milestone, meaning that once it’s reached, you’ve delivered everything that was promised to the client.

Project management tools like Teamly can help you set key tasks and milestones throughout the lifecycle of your project and monitor progress to ensure that things are on track.

The final milestone in any project is the launch. This is when you finally put your product, service, or website out into the world and see how it performs.

If everything goes well, congratulations! You’ve completed your project. However, if there are problems, don’t worry – it’s not the end of the world. Just take a step back, analyze what went wrong, and make the necessary changes so that you can learn from your mistakes.

How to put it all together

Now it’s time to put it all together and create your project milestone plan.

One way to go about creating your project milestone plan is by using a project management tool like, Teamly . After you do the initial setup, you can then use the tool to create a timeline, assignments for team members and your project.

Teamly will help you create key tasks and milestones throughout the lifecycle of your project and monitor progress to ensure that things are on track. This will help you visualize how everything is going to progress and when each milestone should be reached.

Plus, Teamly’s chat interface is extremely simple to use, making it easy to keep everyone on the same page.

In just a few steps, you can quickly create your project milestone plan and adjust it as necessary.

Step 1 –> Go to www.teamly.com and create a login.

Step 2 –> Create a project.

On the dashboard, screen select “Create a Project.”

It’s at this step you can add an avatar to your project so that it’s easily identified. for you and your team. This will help you quickly identify what project is being worked on at any given time, making it easy to stay organized.

Step 3 –> Place your team members in the correct department.

Now, it’s time to assign teams to their appropriate department. This is important because when you’re assigning tasks and milestones, you’ll want each team working separately on the different areas of your project before putting them all together in one final product or website.

This step will help ensure that nothing gets missed when creating your milestone plan. If necessary, you can always add additional teams as your project progresses.

When your team members log in they will see what teams they are in and can begin chatting about their projects. There are several fantastic features included with our chat, such as bookmarks for quick reference to past conversations, file sharing, and the ability to quickly share screenshots.

Step 4 –> Add tasks and milestones to the workflow screen.

The next step is to add tasks and milestones, also known as “to do” in Teamly. And this is super intuitive to do, just click the “+” symbol on top of the screen. Enter in a task name, description, assignee, and due date. You can also add tags and notes for additional clarity.

Step 5 –> Assign work to appropriate team members.

Now it’s time for you to assign your different milestones to the appropriate teams so that they know what they need to work on when creating their tasks. And be sure to stay on top of your team by using the chat feature.

Project milestone planning can seem daunting, but by following these tips and using a tool like Teamly, you’ll be able to establish key milestones quickly and easily. And best of all, you’ll know exactly what needs to be done to keep your project on track.

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How to write an effective project plan in 6 simple steps

Contributing writer

If you’re a Type A personality, project planning might sound like music to your ears. Setting deadlines, organizing tasks, and creating order out of chaos — what’s not to love?

The reality is that project planning isn’t for everyone. In one survey by Association for Project Management, 76% of project professionals said their main project was a source of stress . Poor planning, unclear responsibilities, and overallocation are often the culprits behind the stress. 

An effective project plan helps teams stay within budget, scope, and schedule, while delivering quality work. In short, it gets you to the finish line without the stress.  

What is a project plan?

A project plan, also known as a work plan, is a blueprint of your project lifecycle. It’s like a roadmap — it clearly outlines how to get from where you are now (the beginning of the project) to where you want to go (the successful completion of the project). 

“A project plan is an action plan outlining how…[to] accomplish project goals,” says Jami Yazdani , certified Project Management Professional (PMP), project coach, project management consultant, and founder of Yazdani Consulting and Facilitation . 

A comprehensive project plan includes the project schedule, project scope, due dates, and deliverables. Writing a good project plan is key for any new, complex project in the pipeline.

Why Are Project Plans Important?

Project plans allow you to visualize your entire project, from beginning to end—and develop a clear strategy to get from point A to point B. Project plans steer stakeholders in the right direction and keep team members accountable with a common baseline.  

Project plans help you stay agile

Projects are bound by what is traditionally called the “iron triangle” of project management . It means that project managers have to work within the three constraints of scope, resources (project budget and teams), and schedule. You cannot make changes to one without impacting the other two.    

Modern-day project management has shifted to a more agile approach, with a focus on quality. This means that resources and schedules remain unchanged but a fixed number of iterations (flexible scope) helps teams deliver better quality and more value. 

A project plan puts this “agile triangle” in place by mapping out resources, schedules, and the number of iterations — sprints if you’re using a Scrum framework and work in progress (WIP) limits if you’re using the Kanban methodology . 

As Yazdani points out, “Project plans help us strategize a path to project success, allowing us to consider the factors that will impact our project, from stakeholders to budget to schedule delays, and plan how to maximize or mitigate these factors.” 

Project plans provide complete visibility

A project plan, when created with a comprehensive project management software , gives you 360-degree visibility throughout the project lifecycle. 

As a project manager, you need a single source of truth on team members and their project tasks, project scope, project objectives, and project timelines. A detailed project plan gives you this visibility and helps teams stay on track.

Project plans also help to get everyone involved on the same page, setting clear expectations around what needs to be accomplished, when, and by who. 

“Project plans create a framework for measuring project progress and success,” says Yazdani. “Project plans set clear expectations for…stakeholders by outlining exactly what…will [be accomplished] and when it will be delivered.”

Project plans boost engagement and productivity

A well-written project plan clarifies how each individual team member’s contributions play into the larger scope of the project and align with company goals. When employees see how their work directly impacts organizational growth, it generates buy-in and drives engagement , which is critical to a project’s success. 

“Project plans provide…teams with purpose and direction,” says Yazdani. “Transparent project plans show team members how their individual tasks and responsibilities contribute to the overall success of the project, encouraging engagement and collaboration.”

How To Write A Project Plan in 6 Steps

Writing a project plan requires, well, planning. Ideally, the seeds for a project plan need to be sowed before internal project sign-off begins. Before that sign-off, conduct capacity planning to estimate the resources you will need and if they’re available for the duration of the project. After all, you want to set your teams up for success with realistic end dates, buffer time to recharge or catch up in case of unexpected delays, and deliver quality work without experiencing burnout .

Based on organizational capacity, you can lay down project timelines and map out scope as well as success metrics, outline tasks, and build a feedback loop into your project plan. Follow these project planning steps to create a winning plan:      

1. Establish Project Scope And Metrics

Defining your project scope is essential to protecting your iron, or agile, triangle from crumbling. Too often, projects are hit with scope creep , causing delays, budget overruns, and anxiety.

“Clearly define your project’s scope or overall purpose,” says Yazdani. “Confirm any project parameters or constraints, like budget, resource availability, and timeline,” says Yazdani.

A project purpose statement is a high-level brief that defines the what, who, and why of the project along with how and when the goal will be accomplished. But just as important as defining your project scope and purpose is defining what metrics you’re going to use to track progress.

“Establish how you will measure success,” says Yazdani. “Are there metrics, performance criteria, or quality standards you need to meet?”

Clearly defining what your project is, the project’s overall purpose, and how you’re going to measure success lays the foundation for the rest of your project plan—so make sure you take the time to define each of these elements from the get-go.

2. Identify Key Project Stakeholders 

Get clarity on the team members you need to bring the project to life. In other words, identify the key stakeholders of the project. 

“List individuals or groups who will be impacted by the project,” says Yazdani. 

In addition to identifying who needs to be involved in the project, think about how they’ll need to be involved—and at what level. Use a tool like Confluence to run a virtual session to clarify roles and responsibilities, and find gaps that need to be filled. 

Let’s say you’re managing a cross-functional project to launch a new marketing campaign that includes team members from your marketing, design, and sales departments. 

When identifying your key stakeholders, you might create different lists based on the responsibility or level of involvement with the project:

• Decision-makers (who will need to provide input at each step of the project)
• Managers (who will be overseeing employees within their department) 
• Creative talent (who will be actually creating the project deliverables for the campaign) from each department. 

Give your project plan an edge by using a Confluence template like the one below to outline roles and responsibilities.

Define roles, discuss responsibilities, and clarify which tasks fall under each teammate’s purview using this Confluence template. 

Getting clarity on who needs to be involved in the project—and how they’re going to be involved—will help guide the rest of the project plan writing process (particularly when it comes to creating and assigning tasks).

3. Outline Deliverables

Now is the time to get granular.

Each project milestone comprises a series of smaller, tangible tasks that your teams need to produce. While a big-picture view keeps teams aligned, you need signposts along the way to guide them on a day-to-day or weekly basis. Create a list of deliverables that will help you achieve the greater vision of the project. 

“What will you create, build, design, produce, accomplish or deliver?” says Yazdani. “Clearly outline your project’s concrete and tangible deliverables or outcomes.” Centralize these deliverables in a Trello board with designated cards for each one, like in the example below, so you keep work moving forward.

Each card on a board represents tasks and ideas and you can move cards across lists to show progress.

Defining the concrete items you need your project to deliver will help you reverse-engineer the things that need to happen to bring those items to life—which is a must before moving on to the next step.

4. Develop Actionable Tasks

Task management is an important component of any project plan because they help employees see what exactly they need to accomplish. Drill down those deliverables into actionable tasks to assign to your team. 

You can use either Confluence or Jira for different task management needs. If you want to track tasks alongside your work, like action items from a meeting or small team projects, it’s best to use Confluence. But if a project has multiple teams and you need insight into workflows, task history, and reporting, Jira makes it easy.      

“Let your deliverables guide the work of the project,” says Yazdani. “Break down each deliverable into smaller and smaller components until you get to an actionable task.” If a major deliverable is a set of content pieces, the smaller actionable tasks would be to create topic ideas, conduct research, and create outlines for each topic.  

Once you’ve broken down all of your deliverables into manageable, assignable subtasks, analyze how each of those tasks interacts with each other. That way, you can plan, prioritize, assign, and add deadlines accordingly.  

“Highlight any dependencies between tasks, such as tasks that can’t be started until another task is complete,” says Yazdani. “List any resources you will need to accomplish these tasks.”

When a task has multiple assignees, you need to streamline the workflow in your project plan. Say the content pieces you outlined need to be edited or peer-reviewed. A couple of articles may need an interview with a subject matter expert. Lay down a stage-by-stage process of each piece of content and pinpoint when each team member comes into play so you prevent bottlenecks and adjust timeframes.     

5. Assign Tasks And Deadlines

Assign tasks to your team and collaborate with employees to set deadlines for each task. When you involve employees in setting workloads and deadlines , you increase ownership and boost the chances of delivering quality work on time.  

After all, you want to move projects forward at a steady pace, but you also want to make sure your teams stay motivated and engaged. So, when writing your project plan, make sure to “set realistic and achievable deadlines for completing tasks and deliverables,” says Yazdani. “Highlight dates that are inflexible and factor in task dependencies. Add in milestones or checkpoints to monitor progress and celebrate successes .”

Use Jira and Confluence to create tasks that live alongside your project plan or meeting agendas.

Once you map out all of your tasks and deadlines, you should have a clear picture of how and when your project is going to come together—and the initial writing process is just about finished.

But that doesn’t mean your project plan is complete! There’s one more key step to the process.

6. Share, Gather Feedback, And Adjust The Project Plan As Necessary

While steps 1 through 5 may make up your initial writing process, if you want your project plan to be as strong and complete as it can be, it’s important to share it with your team—and get their input on how they think it can be improved.

“Share the plan with your project team and key stakeholders, gathering feedback to make adjustments and improvements,” says Yazdani. 

A tool like Confluence helps knowledge flow freely within teams and departments, leading to better teamwork, higher collaboration, and a shared understanding of priorities. Coworkers can use comments, mentions, notifications, and co-editing capabilities to provide and discuss feedback. 

After you gather your team’s feedback —and make any necessary adjustments based on that feedback—you can consider your project plan complete. Hooray! 

But as your project progresses, things may change or evolve—so it’s important to stay flexible and make changes and adjustments as needed.

“Expect to update your plan as you gather more information, encounter changing requirements and delays, and learn from feedback and mistakes,” says Yazdani. “By using your project plan to guide your activities and measure progress, you’ll be able to refine and improve your plan as you move through the project, tweaking tasks and deadlines as deliverables are developed.”

Download a  template to create your project plan and customize it based on your needs.

Example of a simple project plan 

A project plan doesn’t have to be a complicated spreadsheet with multiple tabs and drop-down menus. It’s best to use a project planning tool like Confluence — or at least a project plan template — to make sure you cover every aspect of the project. A simple project plan includes these elements:

• Project name, brief summary, and objective.
• Project players or team members who will drive the project, along with their roles and responsibilities.
• Key outcomes and due dates.
• Project elements, ideally divided into must-have, nice-to-have and not-in-scope categories.
• Milestones, milestone owners, and a project end date.
• Reference material relevant to the project.

Best Practices For Writing Effective Project Plans

A project planning process can quickly turn into a mishmash of goals and tasks that end up in chaos but these best practices can give you a framework to create a project plan that leads to success.

Use Other Project Plans For Inspiration

There’s no need to reinvent the wheel for every new project! Instead, look to other successful project plans for inspiration—and use them as a guide when writing the plan for your project.

“Review templates and plans for similar projects, or for other projects within your organization or industry, to get ideas for structuring and drafting your own plan,” says Yazdani.

To get started, use a Trello project management template and customize it for your project plan by creating unique lists and adding cards under each list.

Build your team’s ideal workflow and mark each stage of the project plan as a list, with cards for each task. 

Get Your Team Involved In The Process

You may be in charge of spearheading the project. But that doesn’t mean that you have to—or even that you should—write the project plan alone. 

“Collaborate with your project team and key stakeholders on crafting a project plan,” says Yazdani. “Input into the project plan supports buy-in to project goals and encourages continued engagement throughout the project.”

With Confluence , you can organize project details in a centralized space and build a project plan collaboratively.

Don’t Let Perfect Be The Enemy Of The Good

You may be tempted to write (and rewrite) your project plan until you’ve got every detail mapped out perfectly. But spending too much time trying to get everything “perfect” can actually hold up the project. So don’t let perfect be the enemy of the good—and instead of getting caught up in getting everything perfect from the get-go, stay willing and flexible to adjust your project plan as you move forward.

“Focus on outcomes, not plan perfection,” says Yazdani. “While it would be awesome for the first draft of our plan to require no changes while also inspiring our team and ensuring project success, our goal shouldn’t be a perfect plan. Our goal is a plan that allows us to successfully deliver on project goals. Responsiveness to changing needs and a shifting environment is more important than plan perfection.”

Use the right tools to succeed with your project plan

Writing a project plan, especially if you’re new to the process, can feel overwhelming. But now that you know the exact steps to write one, make sure you have the tools you need to create a strong, cohesive plan from the ground up—and watch your project thrive as a result. 

Atlassian Together can help with project planning and management with a powerful combination of tools that make work flow across teams.

Guide your team to project success with Atlassian Together’s suite of products.

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