Milestone (project management)

Okay kiddo, so have you ever heard of a "to-do" list? It's like a list of things that you need to do. Well, when people have a really big project to work on, they make a list of things they need to do too, but it's called a project plan.

A project plan is a list of tasks that people need to do, but it's even more organized than a "to-do" list. Each task in a project plan has a deadline, which is like a due date for homework. When someone finishes a task on the project plan, they mark it off the list.

Now, remember how I said that a project plan is for a really big project? Sometimes, if the project is really, really big, it can be hard to keep track of everything, especially if lots of people are working on it.

That's where milestones come in. A milestone is like a big signpost that tells people when they've reached a certain point in the project. It's a way of breaking up the big project into smaller parts.

Think of it like this - let's say you're going on a really long family road trip to Disney World. The trip is so long, it might make you feel a little overwhelmed. So, your parents decide to break up the trip into smaller sections. They say, "okay, our first milestone is going to be when we leave the state of California." Then, as you get closer and closer to that milestone, your parents say, "Yay! We made it past the first milestone!"

In project management, people use milestones to help them feel less overwhelmed and to know when they're making progress on a big project. They might say, "okay, our first milestone is going to be finishing the research phase of the project." Then, when they finish that part, they can say, "Hooray! We reached our first milestone!"

So, that's what a milestone is - it's like a big signpost that tells people when they're making progress on a project.