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Milestones Missed: Failure or Success?

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(@hruship101)
Posts: 76
Trusted Member
Topic starter
 

During a project, we set milestones to achieve. However, due to certain circumstances, we cannot meet the deadline that results in missing a milestone. Missing a milestone can be either a failure by the team or it makes the overall project better by ensuring the product is safe to release in the market.

Please share your opinion on whether missing a milestone is consider to a failure or success in terms of improving the overall project?

 
Posted : 16/09/2017 8:06 pm
(@ppp23)
Posts: 43
Eminent Member
 

Hello Hruship101,

This is a very good question. I would like to share my opinion over this.

Missing a milestone is a failure of a project and it could be avoided by evaluating the overall/part of project. Utilizing a progression of standard inquiries ought to recognize the key issues and the seriousness of each one. This will enable you to organize venture recuperation arranging and movement with the goal that you handle the most significant issues in the first place, then work down the list. Amid the audit, you may discover a few territories where you can stop the bleeding - for example, if scope is unstable and everlastingly changing, the presentation of a strict change control process should at least help to firm up and stabilize the scope. After evaluation of the troubled project you may determine that there is no good business case for project recovery so we may need to cut our losses and move on rather than waste time and money on project recovery planning. In this case, of project failure, we need to plan euthanasia - let the project die as painlessly and with as much dignity as possible. A failing project needs the help of a well-trained project planning professional, also called a recovery Project Manager to minimize recovery time, cost, and residual damage if the project can be saved, or to recognize when euthanasia is the recommended option.*

* https://www.projectsmart.co.uk/how-to-avoid-project-failure-through-project-planning-and-effective-project-recovery.php

 
Posted : 17/09/2017 4:09 am
(@merzkrashed)
Posts: 123
Estimable Member
 

Missing a milestone considered to be failure for your project.YES Its YOUR fault! for example, missing deadlines, this is one of the surest breaking points in the client / agency relationship. Project deadlines can either be communicated to you in the project brief itself, or you might be the one giving the deadline. In either case, once a project deadline is set, clients expect you to deliver on it on-time. When clients stop doing business with your company because you’re not meeting deadlines.To stop this from happening to your project, ensure to break up projects into smaller tasks, establish several internal milestones (goals) in your project and ask your team members to report their daily or weekly progress to you,also use project management tool like monitor the progress of your project, define goals, deadlines, set reminders, and due dates and more for the important milestones.

 
Posted : 17/09/2017 9:08 am
(@ronakmandaliya)
Posts: 33
Eminent Member
 

Failing to meet the milestone is in sense considered a failure. However, there should always be a contingency plan if you fail a milestone. Currently, I am taking capstone and we have missed a few milestones, however as long as it doesn't effect the overall project by a lot, it shouldn't be a big problem. In addition, you should always give yourself a little extra time so that you don't miss your milestones. For example, there are many times where you order something from eBay or other websites and it could be delayed by few days. You as a project manager should always think about this.

 
Posted : 17/09/2017 9:51 am
(@savery115)
Posts: 82
Trusted Member
 

It depends.

If you are missing milestones that need to be accomplished that are highly critical to compliance and basically keeping the customer/patient safe, then I would be able to accept missing it.
These are the type of situations that can easy be explained and accepted. Therefore, I agree with your statement.

If you are missing milestones that aren't as business critical and aren't as difficult to accomplish, then there is something clearly wrong with possibly the plan or the team. From my experience, missing milestones that aren't as business critical demonstrates to me that the project may not have as high priority as I think it should have compared to what other people think.

 
Posted : 17/09/2017 11:06 am
(@sahitya-sadineni)
Posts: 69
Trusted Member
 

In terms of a medical device company, I believe missing a milestone being failure depends on what stage the project is on. If it is on the beginning stages such as the initiating and planning stages, failure of these stages will push back the entire project deadline. But when it is in the executing and monitoring and controlling stages, missing a milestone is a huge setback but it may be a positive thing also. It may give the company a different perspective on how to build the medical device. Another reason a failure can be a success is when clinical trials or pre-clinical trials are being done and the medical device did not do what it was supposed to do, it allows the company to know where their device went wrong. Another example is when testing is being on done on the device to test the extension of the shelf life of the product. When that milestone is missed, it means that they can not extend the shelf life of the product. I believe missing a milestone depends on what stage the project is on.

 
Posted : 17/09/2017 12:09 pm
(@krp76)
Posts: 76
Trusted Member
 

A milestone failure within the medical device industry can be viewed as a learning opportunity and improvement area no matter what stage of the project planning phase it occurs in. With that being said if the failure is to occur during an early stage, then this looks poorly on part of the project manager since it is their responsibility to do proper research and establish business needs/logistics of the product being set for launch. During early phases of the project management plan there is little room for failure and can be negative for the product since executives may rethink the decision to pursue the product if failures are met early in the development phase, and instead choose to cut their losses. Now later on in the product development timeline a failure can be better off in long run if for example, a key component within the product is identified to cause an adverse reaction this issue can be fixed rather than dealing with the consequences later. During these later stages it comes down to the circumstances of the failure and many companies will conduct risk analysis on how to approach certain failures. Therefore in the end a failure can be viewed as either a positive or negative outcome depending on the path the company takes, however earlier the failure occurs it is more likely that it is a negative outcome.

 
Posted : 17/09/2017 12:59 pm
(@alexandrabuga)
Posts: 149
Estimable Member
 

Missing milestones, means failure. At Sloan Kettering we contract the development out. So if milestones aren't being met by the CMO, then they aren't getting paid. We have major milestones and phases of projects tied to payment. So if they miss their milestones or are delayed, so is their payment. We expect that the company to a to set realistic milestones and deliverables and take into account potential delays upfront. As ronak mentions, there should be a contingency plan to address if there are challenges or unexpected hurtles along the way.

 
Posted : 17/09/2017 3:50 pm
(@alexandrabuga)
Posts: 149
Estimable Member
 

Missing milestones, means failure. At Sloan Kettering we contract out the development of devices. So if milestones aren't being met by the CMO, then they aren't getting paid. We have major milestones and phases of projects tied to payment. So if they miss their milestones or are delayed, so is their payment. We expect that the company to a to set realistic milestones and deliverables and take into account potential delays upfront. As ronak mentions, there should be a contingency plan to address if there are challenges or unexpected hurtles along the way.

 
Posted : 17/09/2017 3:50 pm
(@monicagoncalves)
Posts: 59
Trusted Member
 

Yes, missing a milestone is considered to be a failure but it’s what the you and the team do after that missed milestone that can turn your failure into a success for your project. When working on any project you should be 5 steps ahead of the game and be aware of any protentional failures or missed deadlines you might face and have game plan for what action/steps the team would complete to get the project back on the right path. All team members should constantly be thinking “what if” when planning a schedule for your project or completing tasks alone the way. Of course no group is perfect and a great way to avoid missing a milestone is open communication between the project manager and other group members. Through the project there should be daily or weekly status report meeting that help everyone in the group get a rundown of what has happened during the week. With good communication and regular status reports completed by all members in the group many milestones can be prevented or fixed quickly and efficiently with all group members on the same page during the entire project cycle.

 
Posted : 17/09/2017 4:01 pm
 aaq2
(@aaq2)
Posts: 38
Eminent Member
 

Missing a milestone may not be a failure if one meets the agreed deadline set in communication with a client. Milestones are put in place to ensure key deliverables are achieved according to the timelines set by the project manager. It is a measuring stick used to show forward movement and progress. I have been in many projects and when the milestone is achieved it is recorded as completed but believe me projects don’t always work out the way.

 
Posted : 17/09/2017 4:02 pm
 nh96
(@nh96)
Posts: 7
Member
 

I believe that before execution of any tasks, several rounds of planning and reviews are done and milestones are set for the deliverables. In business, delivering or completion of certain tasks are critical and they are expected to be completed on time. When your team and the company's name is at stake, it is not advisable to miss a milestone. However, in some cases, it depends upon which stage of the project the deadlines or milestones are missed. In initial stages, milestones may not be critical but, during the end stages of the project, every team member needs to at their toes and heads may roll if the milestones are not reached in time. Generally, when milestones are set, they account for these delays that may be unforeseen during the planning stage and hence, missing a milestone is definitely a failure.

 
Posted : 17/09/2017 4:48 pm
 su65
(@su65)
Posts: 40
Eminent Member
 

Missing a milestone in the path of the project is considerd as a failure. However, that is not the end of the project or that doesnt mean that there is any compromise in the project in regard with its quality/reliability/safety/durability. There should be another plan ready to be executed incase of failure. If the delay for the milestone to be reached is reasonably justifying that it has something to do with patient safety and the process to accomplish it is more challenging then probably it might be considered. This would also give space for learning opportunity and room for conducting more risk analysis.

 
Posted : 17/09/2017 4:50 pm
(@smitshah)
Posts: 75
Trusted Member
 

If a milestone is missed I would consider it as failure on the initialization and planning stage of the project cycle. If a milestone is missed especially on the red path which THE most important path for the project cycle it would be a major back log and tough one to recover from in order to complete the project on life cycle.
This can be avoided by understanding the overall critical impact of the step and proper planning of the the whole step and taking care during implementation and control step of the project cycle. But even if the project is a failure proper implementation of at least the closing step in the cycle would ensure that same mistake would not be repeated in the future projects and everyone would learn from the mistake.

 
Posted : 17/09/2017 4:59 pm
(@bjv9)
Posts: 61
Trusted Member
 

I do not see any scenario in which missing a milestone can be considered a success. I understand that a milestone not being met because "something came up" with respect to safety may seem like a blessing in disguise. But truthfully, missing a milestone because of an oversight or lack of due diligence earlier on in the process (initialization and planning) does not somehow make the missing of the milestone a success. Missed milestones can mean the death of a project. Thats not to say if an obvious hazard is discovered, it should be ignored to meet a milestone, rather better planning and research in the earliest phases should be prioritized.

 
Posted : 17/09/2017 5:17 pm
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