Projects, tasks & milestones - how are they all connected?

Written By Janina

Last updated 6 months ago

In Proyex, every project is based on a clear structure.
This structure helps you organize complex projects in a clear manner and makes progress traceable at all times.

The basic logic is:

Project → Milestones → Tasks

All three elements belong together and each fulfill their own role in the project.

The project: The central workspace

A project is the overarching workspace in which all the content of a project is organized.

Within a project, you will always find the same areas, for example:

  • Overview

  • Tasks

  • Board (Kanban)

  • Table

  • Files

  • Revisions

  • Settings

  • Guests

A project can be used internally or shared with customers.
When a customer is invited, they are given access to the content that is visible to them.

Milestones: Structuring project phases

Milestones divide a project into larger sections or project phases.

They help to group tasks by topic and clearly show the progress of a project.

A milestone:

  • contains several tasks

  • always has a due date

  • can run parallel to other milestones

Milestones do not have to be completed one after the other. In many projects, several project phases run simultaneously.

Tasks: Specific work steps

Tasks are the individual work steps within a project. Each task always belongs to a milestone.
It is not possible to create a task without a milestone.

Tasks can include, among other things:

  • Description

  • Files

  • Responsible persons

  • Due dates

  • Status

The status shows the current status of a task, for example:

  • Open

  • In progress

  • Completed

  • Blocked

  • Waiting

Completed tasks show how far a project has progressed.

How progress is visible

Project progress is determined by two things:

1. Task status
When tasks are completed, the progress within a milestone automatically changes.

2. Milestones
Milestones show which project phases are already well advanced or completed.

This provides a clear overview of where a project currently stands.

Practical example

A typical project could be structured as follows, for example:

Project: Website relaunch

Milestones:

  • Concept

  • Design

  • Development

Tasks:

Concept

  • Create wireframes

  • Defining page structure

Design

  • Designing the home page

  • Design subpages

Development

  • Set up CMS

  • Integrating content

This allows a larger project to be broken down into manageable steps.

Why this structure is important

The combination of projects, milestones, and tasks ensures that:

  • Projects remain clearly structured

  • Progress is traceable

  • Tasks are grouped sensibly

  • Customers also understand the project status

This structure helps to avoid chaos, especially in larger projects.

Common mistakes

To ensure that the structure works well, there are a few things you should keep in mind:

Too many milestones
If every little detail becomes a separate milestone, the project quickly loses its overview.

Too few milestones
If all tasks are included in a single milestone, the project structure is lost.

It is best to define milestones as clear project phases.

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