Project Phases

Phases organize project work into logical groups like Design and Development. They provide structure, budget tracking, and progress measurement.

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What are phases?

Phases are work groups within a project:

• Organize tasks by type of work
• Track budgets per phase
• Calculate progress independently
• Reorder for custom workflows

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Phase types

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Standard phases

Design:

• UI/UX design work
• Visual assets
• Creative direction
• Prototypes
• Brand work

Development:

• Code and features
• Technical implementation
• Integrations
• Performance work
• Bug fixes

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Custom phases

Create phases for any work type:

• SEO
• Content
• Testing
• Migration
• Training
• Whatever fits your workflow

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Budgeted vs non-budgeted

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Budgeted phases

Phases with quoted time allocation:

• Allocated days - Core work time
• QA days - Testing and review budget
• Actual minutes - Time logged against tasks
• Contributes to project progress

Example:

• Allocated: 35 days (15,750 minutes)
• QA: 5 days (2,250 minutes)
• Total budget: 40 days (18,000 minutes)

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Non-budgeted phases

Organization-only phases:

• No time allocation
• Still track actual time
• Don’t affect project progress
• Useful for ad-hoc work

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Creating phases

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During project creation

Add initial phases when creating project:

• Select Design, Development, or both
• Specify allocated days
• Specify QA days
• System marks as budgeted automatically

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After project creation

Add phases to existing projects:

• Click “Add Group” (Managers/PMs only)
• Enter phase name
• Created as non-budgeted by default
• Cannot add budget to phases after creation

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Phase details

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Information shown

For each phase:

• Name - Phase title (editable)
• Task count - Number of tasks in phase
• Budget - Allocated + QA minutes (if budgeted)
• Actual - Time logged on tasks
• Progress - Percentage complete

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Editing phase names

Managers and PMs can rename phases:

• Click phase name to edit
• Enter new name
• Changes reflect immediately
• Does not affect budget or tasks

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Managing phases

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Reordering phases

Change phase order to match workflow:

• Use “Move Up” / “Move Down” buttons
• Phases stay in custom order
• Affects both list and board views
• Only available to Managers/PMs

Common orderings:

• Design → Development (typical flow)
• Development → QA → Deployment
• Planning → Execution → Review

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Deleting phases

Remove phases no longer needed:

• Only Managers/PMs can delete
• Deletes all tasks within phase
• Confirmation required
• Cannot be undone

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Progress calculation

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Phase progress

Calculated from task completion:

• Based on number of tasks complete
• Simple percentage: completed / total
• Updates automatically when tasks complete
• Shown as percentage on phase header

Example:

• 10 tasks total
• 7 tasks complete
• Progress: 70%

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Impact on project progress

Budgeted phases:

• Contribute to project progress
• Weighted by allocated time
• Larger phases have more impact

Non-budgeted phases:

• Do not affect project progress
• Still show their own progress
• Useful for tracking extra work

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Weighted average example

Project with two budgeted phases:

• Design: 10 days budget, 50% complete = 5 days progress
• Development: 30 days budget, 75% complete = 22.5 days progress
• Project progress: (5 + 22.5) / 40 days = 68.75%

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Budget tracking

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Allocated time

Core work budget for phase:

• Specified in days during creation
• Converted to minutes (day = 450 min)
• Time for building/designing
• Does not include QA time

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QA time

Testing and review budget:

• Also specified in days
• Separate from allocated time
• For internal testing
• For fixing issues found

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Actual time

Time logged on tasks:

• Sum of all time entries
• Across all tasks in phase
• Compared to total budget
• Shows over/under budget

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Phase workflow

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Typical progression

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Parallel vs sequential

Sequential:

• Design completes before development starts
• Clear handoff between phases
• Easier to manage

Parallel:

• Multiple phases active simultaneously
• Requires coordination
• Faster delivery

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Best practices

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Common scenarios

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Scenario 1: Design-first project

Setup:

• Design phase: 20 days + 5 days QA
• Development phase: 30 days + 5 days QA

Workflow:

1. Complete all design tasks first
2. Client reviews designs
3. Start development after approval
4. Development tasks reference designs

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Scenario 2: Parallel development

Setup:

• Frontend phase: 20 days
• Backend phase: 20 days
• Integration phase: 10 days

Workflow:

1. Frontend and backend work simultaneously
2. Integration phase combines both
3. Final testing across all work

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Scenario 3: Adding unquoted work

Situation: Client requests additional work Solution:

• Add custom non-budgeted phase
• Create tasks for new work
• Track time separately
• Shows as extra scope

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Troubleshooting

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Next steps