How to Create a Plan of Actions and Milestones

It is often difficult to get started on a project without a clear set of goals, activities and milestones. Goals are important because you have to know what you are trying to achieve. Activities are important because they help establish the process for achieving your goals. Finally, Milestones let you know when you have accomplished activities leading up to your goals.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Electronic spreadsheet or project management software.
• Personal Computer

1. Set Your Goals. Goal-setting is one of the most important steps because it will allow you to focus your efforts on what you are trying to accomplish.
2. Determine Activities Required to Achieve Your Goals. Gather information on the project activities. Find out what actions need to be accomplished in order to meet your goals. Consult with experts. It may be helpful if you have a well diversified team to assist you. It may also be helpful to obtain cost estimates on the activities that need to be accomplished in order to set up a project budget. Once the budget is establish make sure the activities are planned in proper order.
3. Establish a reasonable timeline for each activity. Getting expert opinions on reasonable timeframes for activity accomplishment may help. If you are using third party services or a contractor, ask them for their average completion times, as well as their best and worse case estimates. Plan on the average timeline and be prepared to adjust as necessary. You may want to set aside some slack time in case the activities take longer than planned.
4. Establish Milestones. Milestones are like decision-gates. When one activity is finished you arrive at a milestone. They are used to ensure activities are completed prior to starting new ones. Occastionally some activities will overlap, but many times certain activities will not be started until milestones have been met. This ensures a smoother plan.
5. Manage the Project and Supervise. Team leaders must supervise the project and stay on top of team members. One of the most important aspects of project management is supervising the cost, schedule and performance (quality of work).