Milliarium

Milliarium is the Latin term for milestone.  During project management training many years ago, I was told that milestones were first used by the Roman Empire to mark the distance from Rome along a road.  There was a Golden Milestone erected in Rome that was meant to be the measuring point from which all distances were reckoned.  It was, in effect, the center of the Roman Empire.  A little research seems to confirm that this was, generally, correct.

Milestones gave way to mile markers, at least in the literal sense.  In the United States, there are markers along every Interstate in the Eisenhower Interstate System.  They not only provide a source of bemusement for the weary child-traveler seeking simply to pass time, they also provide a constant reminder to the nervous parent-driver that the “Empty” light on the fuel gauge has been lit for an increasingly longer period of time…and distance.  They also provide clever ways to name towns, a practical way to label exits, and an admittedly aging way to let a tow truck know precisely where a vehicle is stranded.  The notion of a mile marker as a significant point along an important path has slowly diminished over the years.

Outside of the literal, milestones retain a great deal of importance, particularly when it comes to project management.  The trainer I referenced gave us a quick history lesson on milestones to make this point: every great journey used to be measured in terms of distance from Rome, from that Golden Milestone, and every project is similarly measured from its beginning.  Along the way, a method for gauging progress and marking significant achievements or events is critical to understanding if the goal of the project is still attainable.  Thus, “milestone” was adopted as the nomenclature for these points along the path.

Although not very poetic, the metaphor works.  The idea of milestones as measures of progress for any significant undertaking is still widely used.  In fact, it has become one of those words that, when used, almost instantly communicates the point being made.  From projects to birthdays to life events, milestones are all around us.

It seems more than appropriate for milestones to be used in unraveling the DNA of the Islanders’ Epic.  Transforming the genotype, if you will, into the phenotype of the trip is not a trivial matter.  We’re taking a dream and making it a reality, and that kind of effort requires markers along the way, milestones, to help measure progress from the inception point.  The birth of the idea is the Golden Milestone, the beginning of the critical path to the destination.  The literal trip along Interstate 90 will have the same markers.  For I-90, the Golden Milestone will be the terminus in Boston, Massachusetts.  The endpoint will be the terminus in Seattle, Washington.  Over 3000 miles will separate the two, and there will be THOUSANDS of literal markers along the way.  There will be plenty of figurative ones, too, that will be indicators of our progress along the way, goals and achievements that we set out for ourselves.

The planning I mentioned?  Yeah, that will have milestones, too.  Lots and lots of them: we need to fund the trip; we need to get to Boston; we need places to sleep; we need places to eat; we need things to see; we need to know how to get off the path, when we want to, and how to get back on.  And we need to chart a figurative course to get us to the point when we can, literally, start the journey.

The same holds true for whatever undertaking you are planning.  What’s the Golden Milestone for the Epic in your life?  If the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, the journey of 3000 miles begins with 1000 milestones in a very comprehensive project plan.