In my opinion, I think that it really depends on the milestone that you missed and what the results would've been had you not missed the milestone. Missing a milestone could make the project run easier because you are focusing on less things and it will most definitely save more money since resources are diverted to other parts of the project. It's really hard to say without giving a concrete example if whether missing the milestone is a "blessing in disguise" or just bad. I think that it needs to be considered in a case-by-case basis. Normally, missing a milestone would be considered bad because if it didn't matter, then it wouldn't be considered a milestone in the first place. However, if it can be achieved in a later project, then missing it wouldn't be a bad thing because things can change in a project. You may not get enough staff or money to fund your project; therefore, cuts would need to be made, and one area would be the milestones that you are trying to achieve. Its not the end of the world, but you should always try your best to achieve all milestones.
Like some other people have mentioned here I think that the answer is really it depends. Of course, if a milestone that has been properly set (takes into account what is possible/resources to achieve) is missed then there is a bit of a problem. Since that goal was supposed to be achievable, if it is missed the priority becomes finding out why it was missed and what can be done to recoup any losses (money/time/progress/etc). Now if this happens once in a blue moon, then that is understandable, things happen that even the most well planned goals cannot take into account. However if a pattern develops where milestones are consistently being missed then there is either a problem in the utilization of resources, a miscalculation in setting the milestone, or both!
That aside, it also greatly depends on the importance of the project that is being done. If this is some low level project that is not really a money maker for the company, then a milestone missed here or there is not going to tank the project. However, if this is something that is a big money maker, a new launch, or something else important of the sort, then it really DOES matter if you miss a milestone in the eyes of management. Mistakes tend to be less forgivable when more is at stake.
The project schedule was probably drafted by sales or an account manager. Then it was handed off to the project manager. It was then moulded into the very detailed schedule that the project is now being managed against. There may have been some unreasonable deadlines that either were overlooked or just not changeable. The project manager and team knew they were unreasonable. The deadline, however, was mandated by something beyond their control – possibly the customer, an industry requirement, or senior management. Sometimes change orders, pressure from above, or misunderstood requirements leave you with a project schedule that's no longer doable. If it's not adjusted, then it's going to move further and further off track. Talk to your project sponsor about increasing the people that are available for the project. Adding new individuals will increase the cost, but will help you hit the deadline specified. Again, ensure you make the appropriate adjustments to the budget forecast. Perhaps the people assigned to the project are lacking some key skills. Meet with the individuals that are responsible for the slipping tasks. See where they stand on this:
• Do they need help?
• Do they need different tools to complete their work?
• Do you need to bring in a different key person?
You may need to go to their direct supervisor to get the full answer. But you must take swift action.
If you need to replace people, then the budget will likely take a hit as the new people get up to speed. Ensure you make the appropriate adjustments to the budget forecast.
It is well known that having a clear milestone in any project plan would make it easier for the PM and the team member to keep track on the project main tasks and to plan important events, meetings, agreements, and deliverables.
Missing a project milestone would cause a lot of issues in the project process and in meeting the required and attained outcomes on time, which means also ruining the budget plan and so on. This includes missing the project stages start & end dates, missing the critical deliveries, customer needs & stakeholder support. All these issues caused by missing the milestone would hinder PM to follow the right path in the in-process project and the project outcomes.
However, I would agree that some times missing a milestone could be a positive part of a project. For example, missing a due date for submitting a device for the regulatory approval agency. This could be a beneficial extra time for the team to learn about other competitor device issue in which it was unapproved for and to fix it in their project.
This is a great topic to bring up. Many people, as you had mentioned, view missing milestones as a terrible thing that can occur in a project. Which is undoubtedly true. However, in my opinion, missing deadlines is significantly less detrimental than rushing to meet that deadline. I've personally witnessed many situations where we need to go back and retest certain parameters of products that were rushed during the projects. In addition, many unexpected situations can arise from a project that was rushed and not well thought out before freezing designs and releasing the product. Obviously it would be ideal to set appropriate deadlines that are realistic to be met for a project to be successful, but if it comes down to it, facing the problem during the project immediately and dealing with it appropriately is better than allowing it to manifest and grow into something worse later down the road.
A milestone is set taking into account all the possible factors that would come into play while completing the particular task. Missing a milestone would have a bad impact on the project since it would affect other tasks that are linked to the it. It would also mean putting a lot of things at stake while increasing the cost of the project. On the other hand, if the missed milestone was due to a major reason that would have affected the product in the near future and the deadline was missed due to failure of an important task then it can considered to be a link to future success to the project.
In my opinion, missing a milestone can either be detrimental or just a minor setback but it just depends on what milestone is missed. I would say if the milestone was some initial testing to see if there is any risks biocompatibility issues, I would say that could be detrimental. On the other hand, if there is a step that does not have a dependency, I think missing the milestone deadline would be okay as long as it is not more than a 2-3 weeks past. I would say anything that is dependent upon another task finishing can really make or break a company. If there are many milestones missed throughout multiple projects, I really wouldn't see how the company would be able to thrive and function as a business but at the same time, I wouldn't want a company to rush through the research without any conclusive evidence that their product is safe and effective.
I think that missing milestones is not inherently a bad thing. While the loss in the company's funds will not be favored, the potential money that the company will lose can compare to the millions. If the company moves to push out a product that isn't ready for consumers and they get harmed by the product, the lawsuits that will follow can hurt the company's reputation and money. While it doesn't compare, milestones missed in Capstone weren't damaging as long as there was an acceptable reason for it.
I think that missing milestones is not inherently a bad thing. While the loss in the company's funds will not be favored, the potential money that the company will lose can compare to the millions. If the company moves to push out a product that isn't ready for consumers and they get harmed by the product, the lawsuits that will follow can hurt the company's reputation and money. While it doesn't compare, milestones missed in Capstone weren't damaging as long as there was an acceptable reason for it.
I agree with this comment here, depending on the circumstances & the weight of the milestone; the "damage" that occurs when it is missed can vary. The project planner should be aware of the critical task paths in the project, and should be able to allow for some missed milestones. However, something like a product launch delay due to safety concerns as the post mentions above; is an extenuating circumstance that can't really be avoided. To release the product would be asking to be sued. However, procurement issues, shipping delays, etc. should all be factored in to the project timeline when it is created. This way, a realistic finish date can be set.
The effects of missed milestones depend on the surrounding circumstances like all the other posts. However, I want to emphasize the solutions to these missed milestones. That is something I don't see in these posts.
A missed milestone can easily lead to a cascade of delays and significant inefficiencies. For instance, a milestone on a critical task can push the entire project behind by several weeks and increase budget dramatically. In this instance, the project manager has to reallocate resources and decide whether it's worth it or not. This can take significant time and lots of communication. For example, a functional manager may argue that their employee has already been reserved for the next month on a separate project.
Personally, missed milestones usually mean dropping a significant design input. That's because usually I have to demo w/e my team makes before I can justify more funding and time during review phase. It's almost always better to do majority of things very well rather than do everything really poorly, because off of what you did well, you can more confidently justify matching that same quality of the thing you missed.
Therefore, missed milestones are dependent on how severe it is but also how management is going to deal with it with what resources and time it has.
Like all things, we can not really say whether one thing is ultimately bad or ultimately good. In the case of missed milestones, there are a lot of cases where the missed milestone was due to a lesson learned and ultimately made the project better because you got to change something you were wrong about. However, there are also times of missed milestones that are attributed to poor work ethic or lack of training in a certain area. These situations are not indicators of future success, and are actually poor reflections on the team and the project manager instead.
Two important parts should be mentioned for this question. One of these very important items is the research plan of this project, which should be examined very, very carefully and the current costs and milestones along with the starting point of the company's overall costs should come out. In this case, at the time of the turning point and uninterrupted, all your costs must be fully covered, minus the goods produced and not sold and the goods sold and not cashed to the company. However, the break-even point is based on the local and macro economy of different companies, between half to a year, if this important thing is not covered, the company and the product will be completely bankrupt, and the production of that product is not cost-effective unless it is important and has other support.
