glossary — plain english
Milestone
A significant point in a project, such as a launch or an approval. A milestone has no duration and usually appears as a diamond on a Gantt chart.
A milestone marks when something has happened, such as the site going live or a design being approved. The work leading to it takes time, but the milestone itself has no duration. That's why charts draw it as a diamond.
Milestones give clients and other teams dates they can plan around. "Launch by March 28" attaches a deadline to a milestone; you can then work backward to see when the preceding tasks need to finish.
Use milestones for points that warrant a review or an update. Every task has an end date, but marking all of them as milestones makes the significant dates harder to find.
See it on a real chart
Describe your project in plain English and ganttchart.ai turns it into a Gantt chart you can edit and share. Or read the method first: the plain-English planning guide.