Milestones and gates in a project plan
Tasks take time. Milestones and gates do not. They mark a moment: a delivery, or a decision to go on.
These are the eight planning threads the Krong course is built around. The highlighted ones are covered here. What are the planning threads?
Milestone or gate
| Milestone | Gate | |
|---|---|---|
| What it marks | A significant point: handover, go-live, sign-off | A decision: go, stop or change course |
| Who acts | Nobody. It is reached | A sponsor or board decides |
| Duration | Zero | Zero |
Why they belong on the schedule
In many plans a gate is only a note in a risk register. Then it does nothing. When the gate is a schedule item, work after it genuinely waits for it, so a late decision moves the end date. You can see the cost of delay.
In Sen
- Use Add milestone or Add gate on the Schedule tab. Each gets an ID such as M1.
- Give it predecessors like any task. Tasks that follow it use it as theirs.
- It appears as a diamond on the Gantt chart.
- The status report lists milestones due in the next 30 days.
Recording the decision
Add a line to the decisions log at each gate: who decided, when, and why. Then the approval has a date and a reason on record.
Questions people ask
Can a milestone have a cost?
Not as a task of its own. Put the cost on the work that leads to it.
Should I add a milestone for everything?
No. Add one for each date someone outside the team cares about.
How is it different from a deadline?
A deadline is a constraint on a task. A milestone is a point in the plan. Sen supports both.
See it in a real plan
Open Sen and explore the Caldera Freight example. Every figure on this page comes from it. Copy it, change a task, and watch the plan move together.
Open Sen, free About the course