Milestone vs. Deliverable

During the project planning phase, when drawing up a project’s timeline and setting out key moments along the project’s path, two seemingly interchangeable terms continuously crop up: “milestone” and “deliverable.”

Both set out waypoints that allow a project’s progress to be judged and provide a focus for a team to work towards, but are they the same? And if not, what exactly are the differences in the milestone vs. deliverable battle? Let’s take a closer look at what each term stands for.

What is a project milestone?

v  Can be conceptual or tangible

v  Signals the reaching of a key stage in the project

v  An important sign for the team

v  A point for project management to check project goal alignment

What is a project deliverable?

Ø  Must be tangible (i.e. a product or service)

Ø  Signals the completion of a project phase

Ø  An important sign for the client

Ø  A point for the client to sign-off on project status

Milestone vs. deliverable: What’s the same and what’s different?

As you can see from the above characteristics, there IS considerable overlap between project deliverables and project milestones. For example, a particular deliverable may coincide with a certain milestone or vice-versa. But ultimately, deliverables and milestones represent two distinct – if often parallel – tracks along which projects are measured and carried out.

Let’s dive a little deeper into the distinctions.

Tangible vs. intangible

One of the major differences between milestones vs. deliverables is that a deliverable must represent something tangible – a concrete product or service, such as a piece of software or a marketing video – whereas a milestone can simply be a conceptual change or moment.

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You may still be wondering, So exactly what is a project milestone, then? An example would be, when building a house, the stage where you get sign-off from the safety inspector or town planner. This is a milestone that signals the movement into a new phase of the project, but it isn’t a deliverable because you’re not necessarily providing anything tangible to the client.