Short term goals · Milestones · Component
The go / no-go record
The decision taken at each checkpoint and the reasoning behind it — the only way to tell later whether a project failed or was allowed to continue too long.
The deliverable
What it is
A checkpoint where the answer is always “continue” is a status update wearing a milestone’s name. The record is what exposes that pattern.
It matters most in hindsight. When a project fails, the record distinguishes a wrong bet from a series of moments where stopping was available and not taken.
One level in
What it is made of
Each element is a constituent part of the component. Follow one to see the attributes it carries.
Stopping authority
Who is empowered to stop the work, and what they would need to see.
2 attributes: Authority · Threshold
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If no checkpoint on a project has ever produced anything but “continue”, the gates are not functioning as decisions.
The other components in milestones
The milestone schedule
The dated checkpoints across a piece of work, placed against what each one resolves rather than at even intervals.
LearnCompletion criteria
What has to be true to pass each milestone, agreed and recorded before the work begins.
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