Stage Gates and Milestones

Stage Gates, Milestones, and Timelines

The first step in developing your milestones and timeline is to understand what you’re trying to accomplish. What’s your overall endpoint? Are certain objectives mandated by your funding source? Once you’ve decided on that information, create a rough timeline for your project. In science you are venturing into the unknown. Therefore, it will be difficult to assess a timeline for every single detail and you will certainly have to adjust your timeline as you progress through your project. This is normal. For me it helps to know the bigger picture that way I can start putting together how each smaller endpoint factors into the ultimate goal.

Consider what are reasonable objectives for your project. What are reasonable points in your project to say, “Okay, getting this done means that we are on track.” Or “Getting this done shows that this is working the way I think it should.” Always let the literature guide your decision. In addition to the literature, you can see what products are on the market, talk to manufacturers, etc. Basically, you’re trying to get an idea of what other people have done and how similar that prior art is to what you’re that’s trying to accomplish. By doing so, you can estimate the feasibility of your project and get an idea of reasonable benchmarks based on that. All these proof-of-concepts will give you an idea of the reasonable expectations for your project.

Here are a few additional key points that help me:

Separate “stretch” goals from expected goals

You are the ambitious type, so you always estimate that you can do more than you probably can. Personally, I love this attitude, but in communicating your goals to your team, supervisors, and external partners, it’s better to focus on reasonable expectations and deliverables. If you do have “stretch” goals in mind, then communicate what those are explicitly, so that everyone’s expectations are set correctly.

Accountability partners

This could be regular weekly or bi-weekly meetings with your team or supervisor. This could be a daily list of tasks visible to your team or your supervisor. This could be a daily to-do lists where you share what you’re up to that day and must report back to your team with what you accomplished either at the end of that day or the next day. There are many ways to work with an accountability partner or partners. Find a system that works for you.

Check off tasks as you complete them

When you’ve completed tasks, go ahead and check them off your list. The added feeling of accomplishment can do wonders for your personal morale and the morale of your team. Feel free to also adjust due dates as things shape up and you get a better idea of how to go about each task. This is a normal part of making milestones and creating a timeline. But be sure to communicate these adjustments to your team and your supervisor to ensure they agree with the change. You will likely need to justify these changes with the everyone involved. Be prepared with your own rationale and be prepared to listen to what everyone else has to say as well.