Missing critical milestones such as deadlines can push back the deadlines of other critical milestones and delay the completion of the project. However, there can be ways to override this problem. Sometimes, you’re able to figure out a way to complete the project on time by somehow cutting down the time needed to complete other aspects of the project, in which case, the missed milestone is not a big deal. I would say most of the time, missed milestones or deadlines negatively impact the results of the project.

There are also instances where a missed milestone gives an opportunity to figure out how to improve the project. For example, if you missed a milestone and you’ve realized that the structure of the project should change, then it’s important to make those adjustments to make the final product better. In this case, I wouldn’t say the missed milestone is a failure even though the completion of the project was delayed.