This guide explains what Epic milestones are, how to create and manage them, and best practices for using them effectively.
What are Epic milestones?
Epic milestones help teams break large epics into clear, trackable phases and visualize progress on the timeline. Here’s how they help you:
Split long-running epics into manageable stages.
Visualize progress over time.
Track important deadlines and delivery moments.
Communicate plans clearly with stakeholders.
Each milestone gets its own name and date, which are clearly shown inside the Epic bar on the timeline.
How to create an Epic milestone
To create an Epic milestone:
Open the timeline view.
Group it by epic.
Right-click the desired epic and select "Create Milestone".
Set the name and due date, then click "Create".
Assign Epic milestones
You can assign milestones to specific team members to easily track who’s responsible for each key deliverable.
Track milestone status
Quickly track your Epic milestones with clear status updates – see what's planned, completed, or overdue at a glance.
Color code milestones
You can also customize the colors of your milestones to easily differentiate them and visually organize your projects.
Best practices
✔️ Use milestones for major delivery phases, not every small task
✔️ Keep milestone names clear and outcome-focused
✔️ Align milestone dates with:
Releases
Client demos
Internal checkpoints
✔️ Review milestones regularly during planning and sync meetings
Frequently asked questions
Q: Are Epic Milestones synced to Jira?
A: Epic Milestones are managed within Planyway and do not create Jira issues or fields.
Q: Can milestones overlap?
A: Yes. You can create overlapping milestones if your workflow requires it.
Q: Do milestones affect reports?
A: Milestones help with visual planning and progress tracking, but standard Jira reports remain unchanged.