{
  "title": "Project management: do interim milestones help work start earlier?",
  "url": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/gestion-de-projet-jalons-intermediaires-mise-au-travail-en",
  "language": "en",
  "datePublished": "2025-01-28",
  "publisher": {
    "name": "SHR — Swiss Human Resources",
    "url": "https://www.shr.swiss",
    "address": "Esplanade de Pont-Rouge 9A, 1212 Lancy, Suisse"
  },
  "summary": "Dividing a project into deadlines does not guarantee steady progress. Research distinguishes the commitment created by a deadline from the mere presence of a milestone in a schedule.",
  "section": "Research",
  "topic": "Project Management",
  "place": {
    "name": "Lausanne",
    "region": "Vaud",
    "country": "CH"
  },
  "keyPoints": [
    {
      "heading": "What the literature establishes",
      "point": "Dan Ariely and Klaus Wertenbroch (2002, Psychological Science) show, in experimental and educational settings, that people can use binding deadlines they set themselves to curb procrastination."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Elapsed time can change how a team works",
      "point": "Connie Gersick (1988, Academy of Management Journal) observes temporary teams whose working patterns do not develop linearly: a transition around the midpoint of the available time involves revising their approach."
    },
    {
      "heading": "The premature conclusion",
      "point": "The tempting conclusion would be to multiply deadlines to generate more progress."
    },
    {
      "heading": "What these studies cannot settle",
      "point": "The tasks studied by Ariely and Wertenbroch do not reproduce the technical dependencies, regulatory approvals or scope changes of a complex project."
    },
    {
      "heading": "A practical check in Lausanne",
      "point": "Within SHR's [Project Management](/formation-gestion-de-projet-lausanne) programme, a possible exercise in Lausanne would be to select a divisible deliverable: a medtech technical dossier, a research protocol at a higher education institution, an operational dossier for an international sports organisation or a feature for a Lake Geneva region scale-up."
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "authors": "Wertenbroch",
      "year": "2002",
      "source": "Psychological Science"
    },
    {
      "authors": "Gersick",
      "year": "1988",
      "source": "Academy of Management Journal"
    }
  ],
  "wordCount": 438,
  "image": "https://www.shr.swiss/img/blog-Training-Project-Management-Lausanne-gestion-de-projet-jalons-intermediaires-mise-au-travail-en.jpg?v=4",
  "translations": {
    "fr": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/gestion-de-projet-jalons-intermediaires-mise-au-travail",
    "en": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/gestion-de-projet-jalons-intermediaires-mise-au-travail-en",
    "de": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/gestion-de-projet-jalons-intermediaires-mise-au-travail-de",
    "it": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/gestion-de-projet-jalons-intermediaires-mise-au-travail-it"
  },
  "relatedPages": {
    "programme": "https://www.shr.swiss/formation-gestion-de-projet-lausanne",
    "city": "https://www.shr.swiss/formations-ville/lausanne",
    "blog": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog"
  },
  "citationPolicy": "Citation autorisée avec mention « SHR — Swiss Human Resources » et lien vers l'article."
}