How to Set Up and Track Milestones in monday.com
Overview
Milestones are key moments or checkpoints in a project—like a product launch, campaign kickoff, or delivery deadline. Tracking milestones in monday.com helps your team stay aligned and ensures critical goals are met on time.
This article covers how to define, set up, and track project milestones effectively using monday.com’s features like Status columns, Gantt view, and automations.
🎯 What Is a Milestone?
A milestone is a significant event or goal within a project that marks progress. Unlike tasks, milestones are not “work items” but rather indicators of achievement—for example:
- “Design Phase Complete”
- “Client Approval Received”
- “Launch Day”
🛠️ Step 1: Set Up a Milestone Column
Option 1: Use the Status Column
- Add a Status Column to your board.
- Rename it to “Milestone” or “Is Milestone?”
- Add status labels like:
- ✅ Yes
- ❌ No
💡 You can use this to filter or group tasks that are designated as milestones.
Option 2: Use a Dedicated Group for Milestones
Create a separate group at the top of your board called “📌 Milestones” and place key milestone items there. This visually separates them from day-to-day tasks.
Option 3: Add a Milestone Label in a Tag Column
- Add a Tags Column.
- Tag milestone items with “Milestone” for easy filtering and reporting.
📅 Step 2: Track Milestones with the Gantt or Timeline View
Gantt View:
- Add a Gantt View to your board.
- Choose Start Date, End Date, and optionally, Dependencies.
- In Gantt settings, enable the option to highlight milestones (monday.com treats one-day duration items as milestones).
📌 Tip: Set milestone tasks with a start and end date on the same day to show them as milestone indicators in Gantt.
Timeline View:
- Milestones with a one-day range will appear as single bars.
- Use color coding via Status Columns to distinguish milestones.
🔔 Step 3: Set Up Notifications or Automations for Milestones
Keep your team informed when milestones are coming up or achieved.
Example Automations:
- “When Milestone Status changes to Done, notify Project Manager.”
- “When date arrives and Milestone = Yes, notify team.”
To set up:
- Go to Automate > Create Custom Automation
- Choose triggers like “When date arrives” or “When status changes”
- Add actions like “Send notification” or “Move item”
📊 Step 4: Report on Milestones
Use Dashboards to visualize milestone progress:
Widgets to Use:
- Battery Widget – Show % of milestones completed.
- Timeline Widget – Visualize key milestone dates.
- Number Widget – Count how many milestones are complete vs pending.
- Table Widget – List milestone items with custom filters.
🎯 Filter by “Milestone = Yes” to show only milestone tasks.
✅ Best Practices
- Limit milestones to major project checkpoints—not every task.
- Use consistent naming (e.g., prefix items with “MILESTONE – [Name]”).
- Align milestone due dates with project timeline goals.
- Review milestones during project kickoff and regular check-ins.
Need Help?
If you need support designing a milestone tracking system or setting up notifications and dashboards, please contact your workspace admin or reach out to monday.com support.