Project milestone
An important point or event in a project whose achievement can be established.
What is a project milestone?
A project milestone marks an important point or event in the project’s progress. It may identify a checked handover or a decision, for example. The work leading up to it consists of separate activities. The expected outcome, required evidence and responsible role should be clear; a date alone does not describe achievement.
In a fictional portal project, a milestone is “test export approved by the business”. The responsible role should decide using agreed sample data and check results. “Develop the export” would instead be a work activity. A planned date may pass while approval is still missing. The status report must therefore distinguish the planned date, actual state and unresolved obstacles. Moving a marker in the schedule replaces neither missing evidence nor the decision.
Sources
Related terms
- Project charterAn internal document that sets out a project’s goals, boundaries, responsibilities and authorisation.
- Acceptance criteriaAcceptance criteria state verifiable outcomes used to assess whether a requirement meets its intended need.
- Project dependencyA project dependency describes how a task or decision is tied to other results, dates or resources.
- Product discoveryInvestigating needs, constraints and risky assumptions before settling on a product solution.
- Product OwnerThe person accountable in Scrum for product value, the Product Goal and effective backlog management.
- Definition of DoneThe shared description of the quality conditions a completed product Increment must meet.
Your project with ASES
Describe your project to us. We will get back to you with an initial assessment.