In many ways, programmers are artists. If you give them free reign, they will take it and a project can turn into a problematic monster. Setting milestones is one way to avoid this.
When a major programming implementation project is undertaken, the initial design plan should include a number of project milestones. The idea of the milestone is taken from the markers found along a highway that measure distance. They give you both an idea of how far you have come and how far you still have to go. When the programming project milestones are prepared with a time element, they can measure not only where you are, but also how well you are doing.
The milestones are prepared as in the initial conception of the project. This is because the completion of the design and implementation plan is generally the first major milestone. Until a plan is complete, and the plan includes milestones that will take the project all the way from inception to implementation, no progress can be made. Therefore, the completion of the planning process and the approval of the plan itself is often the first milestone to be reached.
As the project proceeds, the milestones give a guideline to the timing aspect. The milestones can be used to guide various departments letting them know when their participation begins. The idea of timing or deadlines in milestones is important. Some projects can not afford to fall behind milestone deadlines for any number of reasons. Other projects can be easily adjusted when the project falls behind schedule. The critical or non-critical nature of the time each milestone is passed depends on the project.
The programming project milestones may also be seen as a logical procession that might in some ways resemble a basic and simple program itself. In other words, branches or sub-projects may begin when certain milestones are met. For example, debugging and testing can not begin until a program is actually written. The completion of the program coding would be a milestone that triggered the start of the testing phase of the project.
IT departments that are conducting major programming projects can benefit from programming templates. These templates give a framework to a logical procession from concept to implementation. Branch off projects and sub-projects can be presented in a visual form that brings order to the process and allows all involved departments to follow the progress of the project as it moves past each milestone. A project is seen as a journey and it has a logical beginning and an expected end, but there are many milestones that have to be passed along the way.
Aazdak Alisimo writes about the basics of computer programming for ProgrammingCompanies.com.
