(Project) Milestone Tracker

Research Project Milestone Tracker

See your whole project at once. Know if you're actually on track.

"How's the project going?"

You know the panic behind that question. Not because the work isn't happening, but because you genuinely cannot say whether you're ahead, behind, or quietly three weeks off course. The work lives in your head, in a supervisor's email, and in a to-do list you stopped updating in March.

A research project is not a to-do list. It's a two-to-four year timeline with dependencies, and you cannot hold that in your memory.

I built this tracker because I kept discovering I was behind only after it was too late to do anything cheap about it.

📊 THE DASHBOARD

Type in your milestones. The tracker shows you where you actually stand:

• Progress at a glance — percentage complete across the whole project, not a vague feeling
• Phase breakdown — which stage is eating your time and which one you've been avoiding
• Deadline view — what's due next, flagged before it becomes urgent
• Overdue and at-risk flags — the slipping milestone surfaces itself instead of ambushing you

📦 WHAT YOU GET

• Excel file (.xlsx)
• Google Sheets version, works straight from your browser
• Quick-start guide (PDF)
• Pre-built dashboard, formulas, colour-coding and sample data
• In-sheet instructions
• Free updates, forever

✅ FEATURES

• Break the project into phases, milestones and sub-tasks
• Start dates, target dates and actual completion dates side by side, so you can see your real pace
• Status marking: not started / in progress / blocked / done
• Priority levels, so the critical path stays visible
• Automatic progress calculation, no manual percentages
• Notes field per milestone for decisions, blockers and supervisor feedback
• Colour-coded timeline view
• Sample data included, clear it in one step when you're ready

🎓 BUILT FOR

PhD candidates · Thesis and dissertation writers · Research assistants and lab teams · Grant-funded project leads · Anyone running a project measured in months, not days

🖥️ YOU'LL NEED

Microsoft Excel (desktop or web) or a free Google account. No coding, no add-ons, no advanced formulas. Open it and start typing.

⚡ INSTANT DOWNLOAD

Your files are available the moment payment clears. For personal use; no resale or redistribution.

Questions before or after you buy? Message me, I answer every one. 🤍

Built by a researcher, for researchers.