In any project, the milestones are the important landmarks to assess the project.The project manager uses milestones to gauge if the project is on the right track, whether it is ending the project phase or completing the deliverables. In order to avoid missing milestones, the project manager should use short and descriptive names such that the criteria i.e to be met are answerable by a simple Yes or No. This helps in avoiding vague and hazy milestones which makes it difficult to tell when the one phase of the project ends and another begins.

There are two types of milestones used by the PM ; major and the minor. Major milestones are the major events or external facing deliverables that include product prototypes, end of development phase, or a feature that needs to be reviewed by the clients or the stakeholders. Any delay in the major milestones is a big setback for the project and the company. On the other hand, the minor milestones which are smaller, day to day events are basically used to gauge the internal purposes than externals are not usually seen by the clients or the stakeholders, so a small delay in these doesn’t affect the project that much.

A project manager usually assess the project based on three fixed steps:
1. Distance travelled
2. Distance to be travelled
3. Direction of travel
Based on these the Project Manager makes accurate predictions and sets a path to follow to get these.

While sometimes, working on the project uncovers data that changes the entire direction of the project and leads to change in the predefined milestones. So at this point, the PM stops and evaluates where the project is heading and whether it is viable to miss the earlier milestones and pursue the newer ones which make the product more popular amongst the clients and stakeholders. Thus, the milestones are very critical but hardly perfect.