Goal Core · Short term goals · Module
Milestones
Dated checkpoints inside longer work, each one a moment where progress becomes visible and a decision to continue is genuinely available.
The idea
How it works
A milestone is only useful if something could actually change at it. A checkpoint where the answer is always “continue” is a status update wearing a milestone’s name.
What makes the difference is deciding the completion criteria before the work starts. Criteria agreed at the checkpoint itself will be adjusted, unconsciously, to fit whatever has been achieved.
Working with it
In practice
- 01
Place them where uncertainty resolves
The right moment is where you will know something you do not know now — not at even intervals through the calendar.
- 02
Write the criteria first
What has to be true to pass. Agreed and recorded before work begins.
- 03
Make stopping a real option
Name who can call it, and what they would need to see. Otherwise every gate passes.
One level in
The components of milestones
A component is something that exists afterwards which did not exist before — a deliverable or a mechanism, not an intention.
The milestone schedule
The dated checkpoints across the work, placed against what each one resolves.
Learn
The record matters more than it looks. It is the only way to tell later whether a project failed or was allowed to continue past the point where it should have stopped.
The other modules in short term goals
Quarterly objectives
A small number of specific, demanding commitments set for a quarter and reviewed at its end — few enough that they can all be named from memory.
LearnQuick wins
Results chosen deliberately because they will be seen — unambiguous, attributable to the effort, and early. Selecting them is a communication decision as much as an operational one.
LearnLeading indicators
Measures that move before the outcome does, and therefore give you time. Distinguishing them from lagging measures is what makes a short review useful rather than merely early.
Learn