Milestone Planning

The characteristics for a successful plan are to provide a path that lead towards a specific goal within a projects scope. The path to create a decent plan can be divided by various activities, uncertainties, phases, and decisions. The similarly between those unknown variables are that they are a part of a milestone plan which is an essential project, program and portfolio management tool. Managing or using a milestone plan allows management on different detail levels. The tool can navigate between important phases and its decision points.

A milestone plan is constructed by milestones instead of focusing on activities. When using a milestone plan in a project planning it gives a goal- and result orientated planning. In a beginning of a project a milestone plan can give assistance to clarify some of the deliverables for the project within the present knowledge. It is important to know the project goal(s). Some project goals are not concrete and therefore alternated although the planning. Changes though the planning is necessary to reach a common goal that satisfies all stakeholders. The goal can be redirected by new knowledge and that is why it is important to have milestones which create a decision point on “Are we going in the right direction, or do we need to alternate our future planning?” or “Have we achieve the deliverables for this milestone?”.

This article will explore a few scenarios where a milestone plan is either used in a program plan or a contribution by creation a monitoring platform that allows a regular review of the project-, program, or portfolio achievements with in an organization´s strategic plan. Furthermore, the concept will be reflected critically with a practical approach and guidance.

Context

Figure 1: Organizational Strategy retrieved from PMBOK® Guide – Sixth Edition (2017), Figure 1-3, page 12.

Short description

• Project has a life cycles and contain various elements such as activities, objectives, focus, benefits etc.

• Program is defined by multiple projects which are grouped together. With subsidiary projects it is possible to track the interdependencies and which intended benefits are achieved. This may not be possible by managing each project individually.

• Portfolio is an effective managing of multiple programs and projects. Portfolio is a process with subsidiary programs and projects that are grouped to gain strategic objectives.

Planning is an essential part of every aspect for managing a project, program, or portfolio. A milestone plan can be used and executed in all detail levels but are used for different purposes. One reason could be that a project and a program both include elements of time. Time regarding a project or a program indicate that it is temporary. Even if a program takes years or decades to fulfill the panned achievements. In contrary, a portfolio does not need a specific end date.

A portfolio encompasses various elements of initiatives and work which is not related to each other, to attain the planned benefits. The beginning of initiatives is related to an organization’s strategic plan. The organization’s strategic plan can control the start, or the end of specific investment. This means that the owner(s) of the portfolio are grouping resources dependent on the geographical area, work that must be delivered to the same client etc. In these scenarios it can be hard to use a milestone plan.

A plan consisted of milestones for a portfolio could be use but it would not obtain concrete monitoring, because portfolios and its activities are not necessary linked together. The path toward a milestone plan can be different, because of the initial knowledge. The different paths will be explained and enlightened throughout the content.

Explanation and its purpose

• Short introduction that leads on to the use of a milestone plan.
• Describe the concept/tool by making nice figures that explain milestone planning.

Guidance with a practical approach

• Make a guidance which can be used by a project manager, steering committee, and top management of a company
• Maybe include examples on the approach.

Limitations

• Explain shortly what makes a milestone plan a good tool.
• Discuss the limitations and usual mistakes throughout a project/ program and reflect on how and why these mistakes are happening. The right way to use a milestone plan and the wrong way to use a milestone plan.

Annotated bibliography

Attrup, M. L. and Olsson, J.R. , Power i projekter og portefølje, page 100, DJØF Publishing (2008), ISBN: 978-87-574-1665-7 - write something smart

Project Management Institute, Inc.. (2017). Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) (6th Edition). Project Management Institute, Inc. (PMI). - write something smart

The Standard for Program Management – Fourth Edition (2017). - write something smart