Milestone Chart Template
Display all your project milestones in a visual timeline.
About the Milestone Chart template
What is a milestone chart?
A milestone chart is a visual representation of important events, known as milestones, planned in a project’s timeline. Milestone chartsIt shows one milestone per vertical line, with a description on the left-hand side of the milestone, and a horizontal timescale for the whole project.
When to use a milestone chart
Anytime your team collaborates on a large project with multiple tasks and deadlines, you can use a milestone chart. You may also find it useful to share the milestone chart with your managers or customers to update them on your progress and likelihood of meeting your overall deadline.
Benefits of using a milestone chart
Unless your team tracks your milestones, you have no way of knowing whether you’re getting closer to your destination. By deciding on and tracking key milestones for your project, you can stay on schedule and reach your goals on time.
How to create a milestone chart
If your project has been planned, or is in the process of being planned, here’s how to create a simple but effective milestone chart.
Step 1: Determine major milestones
For project managers and stakeholders, it can be difficult to parse out milestones from tasks. Milestones are distinct because they signify shifts in a project’s development. Think of them as road signs that help you stay on the right path as you work to complete a project.
To decide on a milestone, you might find it helpful to ask the following questions:
Does this task impact our deadline?
Is this a task or a deliverable?
Will this point in the project signify significant forward progress?
Does this task need to be reviewed by stakeholders?
If this task doesn’t get done, can we still complete the project?
Step 2: Create milestone chart from a template
Miro’s whiteboard tool is the perfect canvas to create and share your milestone chart. Get started by selecting this Milestone Chart template. Use our simple template to visually track the smaller steps within a large project. For each milestone, we’ve pre-populated the template with several columns; as well as rows to track deadlines, steps, and deliverables. Then, customize the template to fit the needs of your particular project.
Step 3: Track each major milestone as a column.
In our milestone chart template, each column is for a unique milestone. Once created, you can customize the milestone chart by adding as many columns for unique milestones as you need to. Remember, be careful to distinguish between major milestones, and minor tasks. The amount of milestones you chose to track will vary by project type and size, but it’s generally helpful to isolate only the most important milestones.
Step 4: Define dates, steps, and deliverables.
The first row of a milestone chart is dedicated to displaying the date or dates that the particular milestone is expected to be completed. These can be specific dates, or time ranges depending on your need.
The second row of the milestone chart is for the high level steps that need to be completed in order for the milestone to be reached. These don’t need to be very granular to avoid cluttering the chart.
The third row of the milestone chart is for specific deliverables. Ideally, these deliverables will be used to measure whether or not the milestone has been reached. Take the time to make sure these deliverables account for all major indicators of your milestones completion.
Step 5: Customize and track!
Milestone charts are by design customizable for the specific projects needs. As project progress, you may find the need to make changes to accommodate for unforeseen problems. Keep track of each milestone’s progress, and make sure to collaborate regularly with your team on new developments.
Get started with this template right now. It’s free
Monthly Planner
To knock out every task and accomplish every goal for the month, it helps to take a big picture, 10,000 foot view of things—meaning a 30-day view. That’s why a monthly calendar can come in so handy, especially on bigger projects. Use our template to create a visual representation that helps you track and space out every deadline and to-do, both for individuals and full teams. You’ll even be able to customize it your way, with images, video, and sticky notes.
Value Stream Map
Value stream mapping is a method of depicting the flow of materials and information necessary to bring a product to a customer. It’s simple: you use a series of symbols to showcase work streams and information flows, and another symbol to indicate whether those items add value. You can thereby figure out which items are not adding value from the customer’s standpoint. Value stream mapping results in better communication and collaboration. Use the value stream map template to understand knowledge gaps in handoffs between team members and across teams. An effective value stream map helps identify waste, foster collaboration, and streamline production.
To-do List
To-do lists are simple, yet effective tools that can break down large tasks into smaller, concrete steps. They can range from individual daily tasks to broader group goals. You can make a to-do list for any project or deliverable that your team is responsible for. Breaking down tasks into concrete steps helps your team reach your goals with ease. With the To-Do List template, you can customize your to-do list to include photos, images, videos, color-coding, and documents.
Timeline
A timeline displays a chronological order of important dates, and scheduled events. Timelines help product managers, project managers, and team members tell visual stories about progress and obstacles. Timelines enable teams to see at a glance what happened before, what progress is happening now, and what needs tackling in the future. Projects or products with specific purpose or deliverables should be based on a timeline to be successful. Use the timeline as a shared reference for start dates, end dates, and milestones.
Action Priority Matrix
You and your teammates probably have more ideas than resources, which can make it difficult to prioritize tasks. Use an Action Priority Matrix to help choose the order in which you will work on your tasks, allowing you to save time and money and avoid getting bogged down in unnecessary work. An Action Priority Matrix is a simple diagram that allows you to score tasks based on their impact and the effort needed to complete them. You use your scores to plot each task in one of four quadrants: quick wins, major projects, fill-ins, and thankless tasks.
Stakeholder Analysis
Managing stakeholders is integral to completing a project on time and meeting expectations, so here’s how to use a stakeholder analysis to help. A stakeholder analysis empowers you to meet expectations and complete projects on time by identifying individuals, groups, and organizations with a vested interest in a program or process. In a typical stakeholder analysis, you’ll prioritize stakeholders based on their influence on a project and seek to understand how best to interface with them throughout the course of the project.