WhenMathMilestone Generator
Give a start date and a total duration, then split it into named phases either by percentage of the total (must sum to 100) or by explicit day counts (must sum to the total). Each phase gets a milestone date.
Worked example
A 10-day plan split 40 percent Design and 60 percent Build from Monday, January 4, 2027, gives Design a milestone of Friday, January 8, using 4 of the 10 days, and Build a milestone of Thursday, January 14, using the remaining 6 days after Design finishes. Switch that same plan to explicit day counts, 3 days for Design and 7 for Build, instead, and the milestones shift slightly, to Thursday, January 7, for Design and the same Thursday, January 14, for Build, since the totals still add up to 10.
Common mistakes
- Entering percentages that do not sum to exactly 100, or explicit days that do not sum to the stated total. Both are rejected outright rather than silently rescaled.
- Expecting phases to overlap or run in parallel. Phases here are always sequential slices of one total duration, one after another.
Limitations
Phases are always sequential slices of one total duration. This does not model phases that overlap or run in parallel, so the Phase Dependency Planner should be used instead for that kind of structure.
Frequently asked questions
- Do percentage-based days round?
- Yes, each phase's share is rounded to the nearest whole day, since a milestone has to land on an actual calendar date rather than a fractional one.
- What happens if the explicit day counts do not sum to the total?
- The plan is rejected outright rather than silently rescaled, since a mismatch usually signals a mistake in the entered numbers that is better caught immediately than absorbed quietly.