WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.700 Imagine for a second that you are driving cross 00:00:02.700 --> 00:00:05.940 -country. Oh, like a massive road trip. New York, 00:00:05.960 --> 00:00:07.940 LA, that kind of thing. Yeah, exactly. You're 00:00:07.940 --> 00:00:10.199 embarking on this massive, ambitious journey. 00:00:11.000 --> 00:00:14.800 But in this specific scenario, someone has gone 00:00:14.800 --> 00:00:17.719 ahead and removed every single rose sign on the 00:00:17.719 --> 00:00:20.320 highway. Wow. OK, that's already a nightmare. 00:00:20.420 --> 00:00:22.429 Right. And not only that, but they've actually 00:00:22.429 --> 00:00:24.910 reached into your dashboard and ripped out your 00:00:24.910 --> 00:00:28.030 gas gauge, your speedometer, and your GPS. Oh, 00:00:28.190 --> 00:00:30.269 man. So you're just driving completely blind. 00:00:30.469 --> 00:00:32.210 Completely blind. I mean, you have your hands 00:00:32.210 --> 00:00:33.869 on the wheel. You can hear the engine roaring. 00:00:34.170 --> 00:00:37.649 You are definitely burning fuel. And you're undeniably 00:00:37.649 --> 00:00:39.729 moving forward. Yeah, but you don't know where. 00:00:40.030 --> 00:00:42.149 Exactly. You have absolutely no idea if you are 00:00:42.149 --> 00:00:44.210 actually getting closer to your destination or 00:00:44.210 --> 00:00:46.390 if you're just driving in circles in the middle 00:00:46.390 --> 00:00:49.060 of the desert. The anxiety of that kind of journey 00:00:49.060 --> 00:00:52.119 would just be completely paralyzing. I mean, 00:00:52.380 --> 00:00:54.700 you would have zero frame of reference for your 00:00:54.700 --> 00:00:57.560 own effort. And that blind, terrifying road trip? 00:00:58.119 --> 00:01:00.500 That is exactly what this is like to execute 00:01:00.500 --> 00:01:03.640 a massive project without milestones. It really 00:01:03.640 --> 00:01:05.859 is. It's just motion without direction. Yeah. 00:01:05.920 --> 00:01:08.560 So our mission for this deep dive is to uncover 00:01:08.560 --> 00:01:13.019 how we actually track progress and why meeting 00:01:13.019 --> 00:01:15.599 a goal might sometimes be a complete illusion. 00:01:15.760 --> 00:01:18.219 Which is such a wild concept to wrap your head 00:01:18.219 --> 00:01:20.879 around. It is. And we'll also get into how a 00:01:20.879 --> 00:01:23.840 remarkably simple software notation dictates 00:01:23.840 --> 00:01:26.659 the flow of time and money in the modern working 00:01:26.659 --> 00:01:28.840 world. Yeah, the literal architecture of how 00:01:28.840 --> 00:01:31.700 we work. Exactly. And we are pulling our insights 00:01:31.700 --> 00:01:34.840 today from a really foundational article on project 00:01:34.840 --> 00:01:38.079 management, which draws pretty heavily from core 00:01:38.079 --> 00:01:42.260 industry texts, like the fast -forward MBA in 00:01:42.260 --> 00:01:44.340 project management. It's a dense read, but there 00:01:44.340 --> 00:01:46.959 is so much gold in there. There really is. OK, 00:01:46.959 --> 00:01:49.879 let's unpack this. Because when you open up any 00:01:49.879 --> 00:01:53.159 professional project management software, a milestone 00:01:53.159 --> 00:01:55.099 isn't just a regular task on your to -do list. 00:01:55.180 --> 00:01:57.640 Right. It's not like buy milk or draft an email. 00:01:57.879 --> 00:02:00.659 No. It is defined by a concept that feels honestly 00:02:00.840 --> 00:02:03.260 totally counterintuitive at first glance. It 00:02:03.260 --> 00:02:05.920 is defined as a zero time task. A zero time task. 00:02:06.120 --> 00:02:08.099 Yeah, that phrase usually stops people in their 00:02:08.099 --> 00:02:10.419 tracks the first time they encounter it. Right. 00:02:10.680 --> 00:02:13.639 Because it sounds impossible. It does. Because 00:02:13.639 --> 00:02:17.219 we are so profoundly conditioned to think of 00:02:17.219 --> 00:02:19.939 work strictly in terms of duration. I mean, if 00:02:19.939 --> 00:02:23.080 someone asks you about a task, your brain immediately 00:02:23.080 --> 00:02:25.960 assigns a time value to it. Oh, 100%. Like, oh, 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:28.139 that'll take an hour. Exactly. You think. Writing 00:02:28.139 --> 00:02:30.979 that report takes three days or compiling that 00:02:30.979 --> 00:02:33.240 data takes two hours. We just default to duration. 00:02:33.360 --> 00:02:35.729 Pinking a living room takes an afternoon. everything 00:02:35.729 --> 00:02:38.889 takes time, but then you encounter this specific 00:02:38.889 --> 00:02:41.310 entity in the software schedule that literally 00:02:41.310 --> 00:02:43.949 takes zero minutes and zero seconds to complete. 00:02:44.129 --> 00:02:47.069 Yeah, and visually it's represented by a very 00:02:47.069 --> 00:02:49.090 special notation on the got chart. The black 00:02:49.090 --> 00:02:51.090 diamond. The black diamond. It's just a solid 00:02:51.090 --> 00:02:52.990 black diamond that sits there on the timeline. 00:02:53.189 --> 00:02:55.370 It does not impact the project duration itself, 00:02:55.469 --> 00:02:57.990 it just acts as a specific point in space and 00:02:57.990 --> 00:03:00.800 time. Like an anchor. Exactly, an anchor. Like 00:03:00.800 --> 00:03:03.300 the official start date or the end date of a 00:03:03.300 --> 00:03:05.400 major phase. The visual of the Black Diamond 00:03:05.400 --> 00:03:08.500 is incredibly fitting actually because it's hard, 00:03:08.719 --> 00:03:12.379 it's fixed, and it doesn't stretch or compress. 00:03:12.639 --> 00:03:15.180 Right. Not the way a standard bar chart does 00:03:15.180 --> 00:03:17.319 when you're representing, like, a two -week task. 00:03:17.460 --> 00:03:19.800 It's just a point. To make sense of the zero 00:03:19.800 --> 00:03:22.360 -time concept for you, think of it like the flash 00:03:22.360 --> 00:03:24.879 of a camera at the finish line of a marathon. 00:03:25.099 --> 00:03:26.939 Oh, that's a great way to look at it. Yeah, the 00:03:26.939 --> 00:03:29.680 flash itself doesn't take time. It doesn't add 00:03:29.680 --> 00:03:31.439 to the runner's speed. It doesn't take away from 00:03:31.439 --> 00:03:33.139 their speed. And it certainly doesn't require 00:03:33.139 --> 00:03:35.979 the runner to stop and perform an activity called 00:03:35.979 --> 00:03:38.439 get flashed by camera. Right. They just keep 00:03:38.439 --> 00:03:40.740 running. Yeah. It simply marks that a specific 00:03:40.740 --> 00:03:43.580 anchor point, the finish line has been achieved. 00:03:44.159 --> 00:03:47.680 So the physical running was the task, but the 00:03:47.680 --> 00:03:50.960 flash, that is the milestone. What's fascinating 00:03:50.960 --> 00:03:53.919 here is the psychological shift that zero -time 00:03:53.919 --> 00:03:57.039 tasks force upon an entire organization. How 00:03:57.039 --> 00:03:59.300 so? Well, when you separate the duration of the 00:03:59.300 --> 00:04:01.120 work from the achievement of the mark, you are 00:04:01.120 --> 00:04:03.639 conceptually forcing a major shift in focus. 00:04:03.840 --> 00:04:06.199 You are demanding that the team move their attention 00:04:06.199 --> 00:04:09.060 away from the state of just being busy and place 00:04:09.060 --> 00:04:13.189 it entirely on Achieving success. Oh wow Being 00:04:13.189 --> 00:04:15.629 busy versus achieving success. That is a massive 00:04:15.629 --> 00:04:19.310 distinction It is the absolute core of effective 00:04:19.310 --> 00:04:21.750 management because you know, you can easily have 00:04:21.750 --> 00:04:25.829 a team that is incredibly busy For six solid 00:04:25.829 --> 00:04:28.439 months. Oh, yeah Working weekends, drinking way 00:04:28.439 --> 00:04:31.540 too much coffee. Exactly. They are billing overtime 00:04:31.540 --> 00:04:34.360 hours. They are typing thousands of lines of 00:04:34.360 --> 00:04:37.879 code. They are pouring literal tons of concrete. 00:04:38.420 --> 00:04:41.420 The duration tasks are actively being executed. 00:04:41.600 --> 00:04:44.199 They're doing the work. Right. But if they haven't 00:04:44.199 --> 00:04:46.220 crossed a black diamond, if they haven't triggered 00:04:46.220 --> 00:04:48.980 that zero time event that officially declares 00:04:48.980 --> 00:04:52.180 phase one complete, then all that busyness has 00:04:52.180 --> 00:04:55.040 not translated into an achieved anchor. That 00:04:55.040 --> 00:04:58.060 makes so much sense. The milestone forces everyone 00:04:58.060 --> 00:05:00.740 to acknowledge that raw effort is just not the 00:05:00.740 --> 00:05:03.399 same thing as a tangible outcome. It kind of 00:05:03.399 --> 00:05:05.360 strips away all the excuses, doesn't it? Like 00:05:05.360 --> 00:05:06.740 you can't just sit in the meeting and say, well, 00:05:06.839 --> 00:05:08.639 we worked really hard this month. Yeah, the Black 00:05:08.639 --> 00:05:10.620 Diamond does not care how hard you worked. Right. 00:05:10.699 --> 00:05:12.959 The camera flash either goes off because you 00:05:12.959 --> 00:05:14.920 crossed the line or it sits there in silence 00:05:14.920 --> 00:05:17.720 because you didn't. Exactly. And, you know, a 00:05:17.720 --> 00:05:19.959 single camera flash at the end of a race is simple 00:05:19.959 --> 00:05:23.459 enough to grasp. But when we scale this up to 00:05:23.709 --> 00:05:27.170 say building a skyscraper or launching a massive 00:05:27.170 --> 00:05:31.069 new software platform or coordinating a global 00:05:31.069 --> 00:05:33.889 supply chain, you don't just have one finish 00:05:33.889 --> 00:05:35.949 line. No, you have thousands of them. Right. 00:05:35.949 --> 00:05:39.209 You have this sprawling multi -year project that 00:05:39.209 --> 00:05:42.029 requires a meticulously planned series of these 00:05:42.029 --> 00:05:45.050 flashes. So we really have to look at how these 00:05:45.050 --> 00:05:47.509 black diamonds are mapped out over the architecture 00:05:47.509 --> 00:05:50.009 of time. Right. And the sources describe these 00:05:50.009 --> 00:05:52.949 mapped out milestones as functioning like dashboard 00:05:52.949 --> 00:05:55.410 reviews. to check the overall health of a project. 00:05:55.529 --> 00:05:57.589 Dashboard reviews, yeah. They basically allow 00:05:57.589 --> 00:06:00.870 managers to review the real world status of activities 00:06:00.870 --> 00:06:03.910 against the timeline that was planned way back 00:06:03.910 --> 00:06:05.430 at the very beginning of the project. When everyone 00:06:05.430 --> 00:06:08.410 was feeling very optimistic. Exactly. But it 00:06:08.410 --> 00:06:10.230 gets highly technical when you start combining 00:06:10.230 --> 00:06:12.529 these dashboard reviews with specific scheduling 00:06:12.529 --> 00:06:15.129 methodologies. And the text calls out two heavy 00:06:15.129 --> 00:06:17.800 hitters here. the program evaluation and review 00:06:17.800 --> 00:06:19.759 technique, which is usually just called PEERD, 00:06:19.959 --> 00:06:22.699 and the critical path method. Oh, yeah. These 00:06:22.699 --> 00:06:25.620 two methodologies are the bedrock of modern project 00:06:25.620 --> 00:06:28.660 management. They are where those zero -time milestones 00:06:28.660 --> 00:06:31.759 begin to add massive, quantifiable value. Let's 00:06:31.759 --> 00:06:33.939 start with PERT. Where did that even come from? 00:06:34.199 --> 00:06:36.540 So PERT was originally developed by the U .S. 00:06:36.620 --> 00:06:39.660 Navy in the 1950s. In 1950s? Oh, wow. Yeah, for 00:06:39.660 --> 00:06:42.740 the Polaris submarine project. It is specifically 00:06:42.740 --> 00:06:46.110 designed to handle uncertainty. Because normally 00:06:46.110 --> 00:06:47.970 you might just guess that a task will take four 00:06:47.970 --> 00:06:50.490 weeks, right? Right, which is usually a terrible 00:06:50.490 --> 00:06:53.170 guess. Always a terrible guess. So PERT forces 00:06:53.170 --> 00:06:55.649 you to calculate probabilistic time estimates. 00:06:56.009 --> 00:06:58.610 You calculate the optimistic time, the pessimistic 00:06:58.610 --> 00:07:01.310 worst case scenario time, and the most likely 00:07:01.310 --> 00:07:03.670 time. Because humans are notoriously terrible 00:07:03.670 --> 00:07:05.949 at estimating how long things actually take. 00:07:06.089 --> 00:07:08.709 We always assume the optimistic time is the reality. 00:07:08.889 --> 00:07:10.790 Always. Oh, it'll only take a day. It never takes 00:07:10.790 --> 00:07:13.790 a day. So PERT uses a weighted average of those 00:07:13.790 --> 00:07:16.100 three. estimate to give you a much more statistically 00:07:16.100 --> 00:07:18.920 realistic timeline. OK, so that's Tert. Handling 00:07:18.920 --> 00:07:21.779 the uncertainty of how long a task takes. Right. 00:07:21.899 --> 00:07:24.279 And then running parallel to that, you have the 00:07:24.279 --> 00:07:28.319 critical path method, or CPM. And CPM is deterministic. 00:07:28.759 --> 00:07:32.000 Deterministic meaning it's fixed. Exactly. When 00:07:32.000 --> 00:07:34.439 you use the critical path method, you are mapping 00:07:34.439 --> 00:07:37.100 out the longest continuous sequence of dependent 00:07:37.100 --> 00:07:40.939 tasks in a project. Dependent tasks meaning things 00:07:40.939 --> 00:07:43.769 that have to happen in a specific order. Like, 00:07:44.029 --> 00:07:46.129 you cannot frame the roof of a house until you 00:07:46.129 --> 00:07:48.550 have poured the foundation and built the walls. 00:07:49.159 --> 00:07:52.300 Precisely. That chain of dependent tasks dictates 00:07:52.300 --> 00:07:54.779 the absolute minimum time it will take to finish 00:07:54.779 --> 00:07:57.579 the entire project. That sequence is your critical 00:07:57.579 --> 00:07:59.939 path. So it's the bottleneck. It is the ultimate 00:07:59.939 --> 00:08:02.360 bottleneck. If any single task on that critical 00:08:02.360 --> 00:08:05.439 path is delayed by even one day, the ultimate 00:08:05.439 --> 00:08:07.800 end date of the entire project is delayed by 00:08:07.800 --> 00:08:11.240 one day. There is zero wiggle room. OK, so how 00:08:11.240 --> 00:08:13.060 do the Black Diamonds fit into that? I mean, 00:08:13.220 --> 00:08:15.060 if the critical path is just the longest chain 00:08:15.060 --> 00:08:17.120 of events, where do the milestones actually go? 00:08:17.319 --> 00:08:19.110 Well, by strategic By strategically placing these 00:08:19.110 --> 00:08:21.209 zero -time black diamonds throughout the schedule, 00:08:21.689 --> 00:08:23.829 you can constrain the dates associated with them. 00:08:23.970 --> 00:08:26.850 Meaning you set hard deadlines for specific chunks 00:08:26.850 --> 00:08:29.990 of the project. Exactly. You are taking a massive 00:08:29.990 --> 00:08:33.330 daunting five -year timeline and breaking it 00:08:33.330 --> 00:08:36.210 down into smaller manageable intervals. When 00:08:36.210 --> 00:08:38.529 you do that, you can determine the critical path 00:08:38.529 --> 00:08:41.110 for major schedule intervals rather than just 00:08:41.110 --> 00:08:43.009 waiting to see if the entire five -year project 00:08:43.009 --> 00:08:45.490 is off track. I see. So instead of just knowing 00:08:45.490 --> 00:08:48.870 the critical path for the final launch in, you 00:08:48.870 --> 00:08:51.750 know, 2030, you know, the exact critical path 00:08:51.750 --> 00:08:54.289 required just to get to next month's Black Diamond. 00:08:54.490 --> 00:08:57.820 Yes, exactly. And this interval segmentation 00:08:57.820 --> 00:09:00.039 allows managers to calculate something vital 00:09:00.039 --> 00:09:02.659 called float, which is also commonly referred 00:09:02.659 --> 00:09:06.200 to as slack on each specific schedule interval. 00:09:06.419 --> 00:09:08.419 OK, let's put float and slack into plain English 00:09:08.419 --> 00:09:11.860 for you. Imagine you're renovating a house. The 00:09:11.860 --> 00:09:13.720 task of painting the living room takes three 00:09:13.720 --> 00:09:16.759 days. But the milestone, the black diamond for 00:09:16.759 --> 00:09:18.960 living room complete, isn't scheduled for five 00:09:18.960 --> 00:09:20.860 days. Right. That means you have two days of 00:09:20.860 --> 00:09:23.620 slack. You can start painting on Monday. Or you 00:09:23.620 --> 00:09:25.539 can delay the start until Wednesday and you will 00:09:25.539 --> 00:09:27.320 still hit the black diamond on time. Yep, you 00:09:27.320 --> 00:09:29.980 have a buffer. Right. But if a task has zero 00:09:29.980 --> 00:09:32.580 days of slack, it means it is officially sitting 00:09:32.580 --> 00:09:35.919 on the critical path. And by measuring this slack 00:09:35.919 --> 00:09:39.600 interval by interval, managers get an incredibly 00:09:39.600 --> 00:09:42.659 early indication of schedule problems. It gives 00:09:42.659 --> 00:09:45.320 them a crystal clear view into which activities 00:09:45.320 --> 00:09:48.480 are absolutely critical to finish on time before 00:09:48.480 --> 00:09:50.750 the next dashboard review. So what does this 00:09:50.750 --> 00:09:52.409 all mean? I mean, I have to push back on this 00:09:52.409 --> 00:09:54.250 architecture a little bit. Go for it. I hear 00:09:54.250 --> 00:09:57.370 terms like interval segmentation, calculating 00:09:57.370 --> 00:09:59.929 slack and early indication of schedule problems. 00:10:00.509 --> 00:10:02.190 And on a spreadsheet, that sounds incredibly 00:10:02.190 --> 00:10:05.529 efficient. Sure. But humanly, doesn't constantly 00:10:05.529 --> 00:10:07.889 segmenting a project and calculating your daily 00:10:07.889 --> 00:10:11.009 slack just create a never -ending series of high 00:10:11.009 --> 00:10:13.370 -stress mini deadlines. It definitely can. It 00:10:13.370 --> 00:10:15.870 feels like you are taking a marathon. which naturally 00:10:15.870 --> 00:10:19.370 requires pacing and endurance. And you are artificially 00:10:19.370 --> 00:10:22.370 turning into a series of frantic sprints. Every 00:10:22.370 --> 00:10:24.750 single month, the team is staring at an impending 00:10:24.750 --> 00:10:27.090 black diamond, sweating over their diminishing 00:10:27.090 --> 00:10:29.690 slack. It can absolutely feel that way. And honestly, 00:10:30.029 --> 00:10:32.830 burnout is a really real risk here. But you have 00:10:32.830 --> 00:10:34.690 to look at the alternative. Why do we impose 00:10:34.690 --> 00:10:36.389 the structure in the first place? Because we 00:10:36.389 --> 00:10:38.769 need things to get done. Well, yeah, without 00:10:38.769 --> 00:10:40.909 those constrained sprint intervals, you fall 00:10:40.909 --> 00:10:43.629 victim to the 90 -90 rule of project management. 00:10:43.830 --> 00:10:46.799 Oh, right. The idea that the first 90 % of the 00:10:46.799 --> 00:10:49.659 code accounts for the first 90 % of the development 00:10:49.659 --> 00:10:52.440 time, and the remaining 10 % of the code accounts 00:10:52.440 --> 00:10:55.200 for the other 90 % of the time. Yeah, it is a 00:10:55.200 --> 00:10:57.500 very dark joke in software engineering, but it 00:10:57.500 --> 00:11:00.299 is incredibly accurate across pretty much all 00:11:00.299 --> 00:11:02.580 industries. It really is. Without milestones, 00:11:03.059 --> 00:11:07.000 complex projects just drift endlessly. I mean, 00:11:07.220 --> 00:11:09.779 Parkinson's law dictates that work expands to 00:11:09.779 --> 00:11:12.019 fill the time allotted for its completion. Oh, 00:11:12.019 --> 00:11:13.419 definitely. If you have a month to do something, 00:11:13.460 --> 00:11:16.159 it takes a month. Exactly. So the milestones, 00:11:16.399 --> 00:11:19.100 those black diamonds, they prevent that endless 00:11:19.100 --> 00:11:21.940 drift by creating hard walls, even if they do 00:11:21.940 --> 00:11:24.659 introduce stress into the daily workflow. But 00:11:24.659 --> 00:11:27.200 this internal stress over slack doesn't happen 00:11:27.200 --> 00:11:30.539 in a vacuum. A project manager isn't sweating 00:11:30.539 --> 00:11:32.919 over a black diamond just for their own internal 00:11:32.919 --> 00:11:35.620 tried, or because they want the software to show 00:11:35.620 --> 00:11:37.899 a nice little green check mark. No, not at all. 00:11:38.139 --> 00:11:40.720 They are sweating because that diamond is tied 00:11:40.720 --> 00:11:43.820 directly to external forces. It is tied to the 00:11:43.820 --> 00:11:46.600 mission of the business, and frankly, it is tied 00:11:46.600 --> 00:11:49.919 to hard cash. Yes. This is where we transition 00:11:49.919 --> 00:11:52.480 from the mathematical theory of Pert and CPM 00:11:52.480 --> 00:11:55.340 into the brutal reality of business operations. 00:11:55.679 --> 00:11:58.580 Because between clients and contractors, milestones 00:11:58.580 --> 00:12:01.179 are the universal language. Right. Our sources 00:12:01.179 --> 00:12:03.419 highlight that milestones are used to signal 00:12:03.419 --> 00:12:06.340 the need for external review or external input. 00:12:06.899 --> 00:12:09.779 They trigger vital budget checks. Which is huge! 00:12:10.080 --> 00:12:12.879 Yeah. In product contracts, hitting these specific 00:12:12.879 --> 00:12:15.679 points often triggers what is called a milestone 00:12:15.679 --> 00:12:18.559 fee. This is a massive infusion of money that 00:12:18.559 --> 00:12:21.480 is paid out by the client only when certain specific 00:12:21.480 --> 00:12:23.759 points are achieved and verified. It's all about 00:12:23.759 --> 00:12:25.740 deliverables and benchmarking. Exactly. It's 00:12:25.740 --> 00:12:27.639 intrinsically tied to those concepts. And if 00:12:27.639 --> 00:12:29.460 we connect this to the bigger picture, you can 00:12:29.460 --> 00:12:31.980 see why the milestone fee changes the entire 00:12:31.980 --> 00:12:34.600 psychological and financial landscape of a project. 00:12:34.960 --> 00:12:37.360 I mean, a contracting firm building a $50 million 00:12:37.360 --> 00:12:39.559 bridge doesn't just have $50 million sitting 00:12:39.559 --> 00:12:42.039 in a checking account to flip the costs for three 00:12:42.039 --> 00:12:44.440 years. No, they would go bankrupt trying to fund 00:12:44.440 --> 00:12:47.620 that themselves. To make this relatable, think 00:12:47.620 --> 00:12:50.980 about playing a really intense, incredibly difficult 00:12:50.980 --> 00:12:54.480 video game. You are exploring this massive level, 00:12:54.700 --> 00:12:57.679 you are battling enemies, and your health bar 00:12:57.679 --> 00:13:01.200 is getting lower and lower. Oh, I know this feeling. 00:13:01.299 --> 00:13:03.340 You are running out of resources, your armor 00:13:03.340 --> 00:13:06.440 is broken, your potions are completely depleted, 00:13:06.539 --> 00:13:10.159 and you are just barely hanging on. Then finally, 00:13:10.360 --> 00:13:13.289 up ahead in the distance, you see it. The glowing 00:13:13.289 --> 00:13:15.649 save point. A black diamond. A black diamond. 00:13:16.070 --> 00:13:18.649 You know that if you can just drag your battered 00:13:18.649 --> 00:13:20.750 character to that save point, your health will 00:13:20.750 --> 00:13:23.909 be replenished, your resources will be restocked, 00:13:23.990 --> 00:13:25.960 and your progress will be locked in. That is 00:13:25.960 --> 00:13:29.120 a perfect analogy. That is exactly what a milestone 00:13:29.120 --> 00:13:31.539 fee is for a contracting company. You are burning 00:13:31.539 --> 00:13:33.299 through your operational budget. You are picking 00:13:33.299 --> 00:13:35.919 hundreds of salaries. You are buying raw materials 00:13:35.919 --> 00:13:38.259 and your financial health bar is draining fast. 00:13:38.360 --> 00:13:41.019 You're in the red. Yeah. You are just trying 00:13:41.019 --> 00:13:44.200 to survive the level until you hit that specific 00:13:44.200 --> 00:13:46.720 marker because that is the exact moment the client 00:13:46.720 --> 00:13:49.279 opens the checkbook and replenishes your operational 00:13:49.279 --> 00:13:51.460 health. Because the client won't just hand over 00:13:51.460 --> 00:13:53.860 cash on a random Tuesday just because the calendar 00:13:53.860 --> 00:13:56.139 turned over. Right. They want proof. They want 00:13:56.139 --> 00:13:59.080 tangible, verified proof of progress before they 00:13:59.080 --> 00:14:02.080 wire the next 10 million dollars. So the milestone 00:14:02.080 --> 00:14:04.779 acts as the necessary bridge. It bridges the 00:14:04.779 --> 00:14:07.419 gap between the highly abstract mathematical 00:14:07.419 --> 00:14:10.879 health of a project and the tangible concrete 00:14:10.879 --> 00:14:13.299 business deliverables. It's a translation layer. 00:14:13.580 --> 00:14:15.919 Exactly. It is the vital translation layer between 00:14:15.919 --> 00:14:18.179 the engineers doing the complex work and the 00:14:18.179 --> 00:14:20.669 executives paying for it. I mean, engineers speak 00:14:20.669 --> 00:14:23.389 in task dependencies and duration. The executives 00:14:23.389 --> 00:14:25.870 speak in risk management and capital deployment. 00:14:26.009 --> 00:14:27.389 And they don't always understand each other. 00:14:27.690 --> 00:14:30.409 Often they don't. But the milestone, that zero 00:14:30.409 --> 00:14:32.730 -time event that triggers the fee, is the one 00:14:32.730 --> 00:14:35.190 concept they both completely understand. It is 00:14:35.190 --> 00:14:37.450 the ultimate handshake between the work and the 00:14:37.450 --> 00:14:40.309 money. But we all know that whenever you tie 00:14:40.309 --> 00:14:43.389 money, survival, and external judgment to a specific 00:14:43.389 --> 00:14:47.279 metric, Whenever a dashboard review stands between 00:14:47.279 --> 00:14:50.059 an entire company and its ability to make payroll, 00:14:51.159 --> 00:14:53.299 human nature is going to step in. Oh, absolutely. 00:14:53.539 --> 00:14:56.080 And human nature has a way of complicating even 00:14:56.080 --> 00:14:58.500 the most elegant mathematical models. When the 00:14:58.500 --> 00:15:01.100 stakes are that high, the system will absolutely 00:15:01.100 --> 00:15:03.700 be tested because project managers will optimize 00:15:03.700 --> 00:15:07.259 for survival. Which brings us to the inherent 00:15:07.259 --> 00:15:09.600 flaws of the milestone system. or what we could 00:15:09.600 --> 00:15:11.519 call the dark side of the diamond. The dark side. 00:15:11.720 --> 00:15:14.360 Yeah. Because hitting that point guarantees the 00:15:14.360 --> 00:15:17.019 milestone fee and a positive dashboard review, 00:15:17.519 --> 00:15:19.799 we really have to look at the unintended consequences 00:15:19.799 --> 00:15:22.120 of this architecture. And the source text is 00:15:22.120 --> 00:15:24.700 surprisingly blunt about this. It is. It states 00:15:24.700 --> 00:15:27.000 clearly that there are severe limitations to 00:15:27.000 --> 00:15:29.759 the effectiveness of milestones as a pure measure 00:15:29.759 --> 00:15:31.960 of project health. And this is where the illusion 00:15:31.960 --> 00:15:34.480 of progress begins to take shape, because the 00:15:34.480 --> 00:15:36.860 fundamental flaw is that milestones, by their 00:15:36.860 --> 00:15:39.679 very nature, typically only show progress on 00:15:39.679 --> 00:15:42.279 the critical path. Just the critical path. Just 00:15:42.279 --> 00:15:44.840 the critical path. They completely ignore the 00:15:44.840 --> 00:15:47.179 status of non -critical activities. Here's where 00:15:47.179 --> 00:15:50.230 it gets really interesting. Because the milestone 00:15:50.230 --> 00:15:53.509 must be met to get the fee and pass the review, 00:15:54.110 --> 00:15:56.289 managers commonly do something very specific 00:15:56.289 --> 00:15:59.629 and very dangerous. Oh yeah. They move resources 00:15:59.629 --> 00:16:02.230 away from noncritical activities and dump them 00:16:02.230 --> 00:16:05.090 entirely into the critical activities. They cannibalize 00:16:05.090 --> 00:16:07.029 the rest of the project to feed the critical 00:16:07.029 --> 00:16:09.730 path. Right. And I have to push back hard against 00:16:09.730 --> 00:16:12.509 the entire methodology here. If managers are 00:16:12.509 --> 00:16:15.250 just cannibalizing their teams, if they're taking 00:16:15.250 --> 00:16:17.129 the engineers who are supposed to be building 00:16:17.129 --> 00:16:19.970 the long -term safety features or, you know, 00:16:20.250 --> 00:16:23.029 writing the user manuals or doing the foundational 00:16:23.029 --> 00:16:25.409 quality assurance and throwing them all onto 00:16:25.409 --> 00:16:28.289 the critical path just to force that black diamond 00:16:28.289 --> 00:16:31.129 to trigger. It's a recipe for disaster. It is. 00:16:31.450 --> 00:16:33.529 Then the milestone isn't a true measure of health 00:16:33.529 --> 00:16:36.110 at all. It's like taking the structural support 00:16:36.110 --> 00:16:38.240 beams out of the second floor. just so you have 00:16:38.240 --> 00:16:40.580 enough wood to finish the roof before the building 00:16:40.580 --> 00:16:42.620 inspector arrives. That's a terrifying image, 00:16:42.639 --> 00:16:46.080 but it's so accurate. Right. The inspector looks 00:16:46.080 --> 00:16:48.259 at the roof, ticks the box on his clipboard, 00:16:48.639 --> 00:16:51.179 and hands over the check. The house looks done 00:16:51.179 --> 00:16:54.320 from the outside, but it's fundamentally compromised. 00:16:54.639 --> 00:16:57.120 This raises an important question about the psychology 00:16:57.120 --> 00:16:59.879 of metrics, because it is a classic example of 00:16:59.879 --> 00:17:02.100 Goodhart's law. Remind us what that is again. 00:17:02.240 --> 00:17:04.799 Goodhart's law states that when a measure becomes 00:17:04.799 --> 00:17:08.180 a target, it ceases to be a good measure. By 00:17:08.180 --> 00:17:10.740 making the milestone the ultimate target tied 00:17:10.740 --> 00:17:13.960 to financial survival, you inevitably incentivize 00:17:13.960 --> 00:17:16.740 managers to game the system. You literally pay 00:17:16.740 --> 00:17:19.420 them to ignore the big picture and focus only 00:17:19.420 --> 00:17:23.650 on the roof. Yes. And what is so dangerous is 00:17:23.650 --> 00:17:25.970 that the project manager might not even realize 00:17:25.970 --> 00:17:28.210 they are destroying the integrity of the project 00:17:28.210 --> 00:17:30.589 in the long run. They aren't trying to be malicious. 00:17:30.769 --> 00:17:32.829 No, they aren't acting maliciously at all. They 00:17:32.829 --> 00:17:35.230 are reacting to the immediate stress of the impending 00:17:35.230 --> 00:17:37.750 dashboard review. They look at the critical path, 00:17:37.769 --> 00:17:40.230 they see a delay, they know the company needs 00:17:40.230 --> 00:17:42.809 the milestone fee to survive the quarter, so 00:17:42.809 --> 00:17:46.069 they make a rational short -term survival decision. 00:17:46.170 --> 00:17:48.029 Right, they shift the resources away from the 00:17:48.029 --> 00:17:50.529 invisible work. They tell themselves, we'll catch 00:17:50.529 --> 00:17:52.829 up on the long critical stuff later. We just 00:17:52.829 --> 00:17:55.529 need to get past this review. But later rarely 00:17:55.529 --> 00:17:58.410 comes. What happens when you execute that survival 00:17:58.410 --> 00:18:01.309 strategy month after month? It compounds. It 00:18:01.309 --> 00:18:03.630 compounds massively. The non -critical tasks 00:18:03.630 --> 00:18:06.490 pile up. Technical debt accumulates. The unwritten 00:18:06.490 --> 00:18:09.750 manuals. The untested code. The unreviewed safety 00:18:09.750 --> 00:18:13.609 protocols. They form this massive invisible mountain 00:18:13.609 --> 00:18:16.250 of ignored work. Just waiting to collapse. Right. 00:18:16.549 --> 00:18:19.470 And eventually a non -critical task becomes so 00:18:19.470 --> 00:18:22.359 heavily delayed that its float drops to zero. 00:18:22.599 --> 00:18:25.819 Oh, wow. So it shifts. Yes. It suddenly shifts 00:18:25.819 --> 00:18:28.240 onto the critical path, usually late in the project 00:18:28.240 --> 00:18:31.440 timeline, and the entire endeavor violently derails. 00:18:31.539 --> 00:18:33.880 The illusion shatters. The green lights on the 00:18:33.880 --> 00:18:36.220 dashboard were a lie all along. The roof was 00:18:36.220 --> 00:18:38.000 finished, but the second floor finally caved 00:18:38.000 --> 00:18:41.299 in. Yep. It is a terrifying operational trap. 00:18:41.519 --> 00:18:43.819 And honestly, it's an illusion of progress that 00:18:43.819 --> 00:18:45.680 anyone can fall into if they aren't looking at 00:18:45.680 --> 00:18:47.799 the whole board. It happens all the time. So 00:18:47.799 --> 00:18:49.720 let's distill the journey we've taken you on 00:18:49.720 --> 00:18:53.049 today. Milestones, in the realm of project management, 00:18:53.529 --> 00:18:55.789 are those zero -time black diamonds sitting on 00:18:55.789 --> 00:18:59.069 a timeline. They don't take time. They represent 00:18:59.069 --> 00:19:02.029 the achievement of an anchor. They're incredibly 00:19:02.029 --> 00:19:05.410 powerful, necessary tools. They allow managers 00:19:05.410 --> 00:19:07.869 to conduct dashboard reviews. They allow for 00:19:07.869 --> 00:19:10.029 the calculation of float and slack within the 00:19:10.029 --> 00:19:13.089 critical path method. And they act as the essential 00:19:13.089 --> 00:19:15.430 trigger for milestone fees that keep companies 00:19:15.430 --> 00:19:18.369 financially alive. But there's a catch. A huge 00:19:18.369 --> 00:19:21.670 catch. As we just explored, they are also potentially 00:19:21.670 --> 00:19:25.150 dangerous mirages. They can trick us and our 00:19:25.150 --> 00:19:27.849 clients into a false sense of security, incentivizing 00:19:27.849 --> 00:19:30.769 us to cannibalize our own foundations and ignore 00:19:30.769 --> 00:19:33.250 non -critical work just to keep up appearances 00:19:33.250 --> 00:19:35.769 and hit a visible target. And I really want to 00:19:35.769 --> 00:19:37.869 turn this directly to you listening to this right 00:19:37.869 --> 00:19:40.369 now. Look closely at the projects you are currently 00:19:40.369 --> 00:19:42.230 managing in your own work. Yeah, think about 00:19:42.230 --> 00:19:45.140 your own day to day. Whether you are building 00:19:45.140 --> 00:19:48.079 complex software, organizing a massive event, 00:19:48.480 --> 00:19:52.019 or simply managing a small team, are you genuinely 00:19:52.019 --> 00:19:55.000 on schedule? Is the underlying foundation actually 00:19:55.000 --> 00:19:58.200 healthy? Or are you secretly robbing resources 00:19:58.200 --> 00:20:00.599 from tomorrow's invisible work just to ensure 00:20:00.599 --> 00:20:03.779 you hit today's visible black diamond? That's 00:20:03.779 --> 00:20:06.259 a tough question. It is a deeply uncomfortable 00:20:06.259 --> 00:20:08.940 question to ask yourself, but it is absolutely 00:20:08.940 --> 00:20:12.480 essential for true sustainable success. It is 00:20:12.480 --> 00:20:14.579 essential. And I want to leave you with one final 00:20:14.579 --> 00:20:17.230 thought to mull over. We have spent this entire 00:20:17.230 --> 00:20:19.589 deep dive talking about software methodologies, 00:20:19.890 --> 00:20:22.490 corporate budgets, and dashboard reviews. But 00:20:22.490 --> 00:20:24.569 human psychology doesn't just clock out at 5 00:20:24.569 --> 00:20:27.630 p .m. No, it definitely doesn't. If project milestones 00:20:27.630 --> 00:20:30.630 naturally incentivize us to neglect the non -critical 00:20:30.630 --> 00:20:33.609 tasks just to hit a visible, rewarded target, 00:20:34.089 --> 00:20:36.369 What does that say about how we measure personal 00:20:36.369 --> 00:20:39.029 success in our own lives? Oh, wow. That's a really 00:20:39.029 --> 00:20:40.750 interesting point. Think about the Black Diamond 00:20:40.750 --> 00:20:42.609 Society sets up for us, right? Getting the major 00:20:42.609 --> 00:20:45.069 promotion, buying the house, hitting a specific 00:20:45.069 --> 00:20:47.490 salary bracket by a certain age. Those are our 00:20:47.490 --> 00:20:50.210 highly visible, culturally rewarded milestones. 00:20:50.519 --> 00:20:52.660 The things you put on your resume or tell your 00:20:52.660 --> 00:20:56.519 family about. Exactly. But in the frantic, stressful 00:20:56.519 --> 00:20:59.420 sprint to trigger those external dashboard reviews, 00:21:00.039 --> 00:21:03.500 do we end up cannibalizing the invisible, non 00:21:03.500 --> 00:21:05.839 -critical foundations of our own lives? The things 00:21:05.839 --> 00:21:08.960 that don't get a green checkmark. Right. Do we 00:21:08.960 --> 00:21:11.819 sacrifice our physical health, our fundamental 00:21:11.819 --> 00:21:15.359 need for rest, or our deep personal relationships 00:21:15.359 --> 00:21:18.180 just to have enough structural wood to finish 00:21:18.180 --> 00:21:20.900 the roof for everyone else to see? Yeah. The 00:21:20.900 --> 00:21:23.599 illusion of progress isn't just a corporate problem. 00:21:23.779 --> 00:21:26.539 It's a human problem. If you are driving cross 00:21:26.539 --> 00:21:28.299 -country, like we talked about at the start, 00:21:28.700 --> 00:21:30.700 the road signs are incredibly important to tell 00:21:30.700 --> 00:21:33.279 you where you are. But if you fixate entirely 00:21:33.279 --> 00:21:35.660 on hitting the signs on schedule and forget to 00:21:35.660 --> 00:21:38.500 stop and check the oil, eventually the engine 00:21:38.500 --> 00:21:40.059 is going to fail. You're going to break down 00:21:40.059 --> 00:21:42.059 on the side of the highway. Exactly. Make sure 00:21:42.059 --> 00:21:43.579 you aren't just hitting your milestones while 00:21:43.579 --> 00:21:45.420 the vehicle completely falls apart underneath 00:21:45.420 --> 00:21:47.960 you. Thanks for joining us on this deep dive. 00:21:48.240 --> 00:21:49.299 We will catch you next time.