One thing I’ve seen often is a lack of clear milestone standardization and understanding.  It’s crucial to all those involved who are part of any project within an organization or who receive updates regarding these projects to know what each milestone may mean. There are many “basic” statuses or milestones for every project within an organization and/or between its vendors.

Examples are:  Request, Discovery, Requirement, Design, Development, Testing, Staging, Production, Support and Closure.

The naming of these milestones is far less important than having a consistent milestone process that allows for clear understanding of where a project may stand.  This helps in all aspects of a project’s success. Project Management Offices or the equivalent should define and document these milestones to be used as a guide for project status, health and monitoring and distribute to all that need to know them.

 These pre-defined milestones should be used as a guideline for all projects and any deviation from these should be encouraged only when it makes most sense for the success of a particular project.  Consistency in this process will allow for more clear communication to all affected parties.