Milestones

The next big step on a roadmap. A definition of done, no fixed date — you're doing it until it's done.

When to use a milestone

A milestone is the right shape when work is larger than a project but you can't commit to a ship date — you'll get there when the criteria are met. “Beta launch,” “First paying customer,” and “MVP shipped” are all milestones.

A milestone is essentially an initiative without a target date. Same exit criteria, no ship pressure. Use it for roadmap commitments-by-order (“next we ship X, then Y”) rather than commitments-by-quarter.

Fields

Status — planned / active / done / cancelled
Definition of done — the exit criteria
Assignees — who owns it

Milestones don't have a target date. If your work has a ship date, it's an Initiative. If it's a fixed time window, it's a Cycle. If it never ends, it's a Workstream.

Definition of done

The DoD captures the acceptance criteria. Free-text — bullet list, paragraph, checkboxes, whatever makes it unambiguous when the milestone is done. Same field shape as Initiatives.

Closing a milestone

When the DoD is satisfied, move the milestone to done. The milestone stays on any Roadmap that references it — past work is part of the roadmap, not removed from it.

Milestone vs initiative vs project

Project (bare) — a bundle of tasks. No DoD, no dates. Use for ongoing containers of work.
Milestone — DoD, no date. Use for the next big step on a roadmap when you don't yet know when it ships.
Initiative — DoD + target date. Use when there's a real ship moment.

← Initiatives Workstreams →