Phases, Milestones & Hierarchy
Organize your Jira Gantt chart with phases and milestones
A flat list of tasks doesn't tell the story of your project. Simple Gantt lets you group work into phases, mark key dates as milestones, and build multi-level hierarchies — so your Gantt chart mirrors how you actually think about the project.
What you get
- ✓ Collapsible phase sections with color-coded bands on the timeline
- ✓ Phase status tracking: On Track, At Risk, Off Track, Completed
- ✓ Milestone markers (diamond icons) on key dates
- ✓ Unlimited parent-child task hierarchy with nesting
- ✓ Auto-calculated parent dates derived from child task dates
- ✓ Drag-and-drop reordering and phase assignment
- ✓ Phase comments for team communication and context
- ✓ Right-click context menus on every element for quick actions
Phases that give your Jira Gantt chart structure
Phases are the top-level organizer for your project. Create phases like "Discovery," "Development," "Testing," and "Launch" — then drag tasks into them. Each phase gets a color-coded band on the timeline so you can see project structure at a glance. Collapse phases you're not focused on to reduce visual noise.
Phase dates are calculated automatically from their child tasks. The earliest child start date becomes the phase start; the latest child end date becomes the phase end. You never need to manually maintain phase dates — they stay accurate as tasks move. Each phase also tracks progress and status based on the completion state of its tasks.
Milestones to mark key dates on your timeline
Milestones represent specific points in time: a deadline, a deliverable, a go/no-go decision. They appear as diamond markers on the timeline, visually distinct from task bars. Use them to anchor your schedule around the dates that matter most.
Milestones can participate in dependencies just like tasks. You can create a Finish-to-Start link from a task to a milestone, ensuring the milestone date reflects when all prerequisite work is actually complete. When something slips, the milestone's position on the timeline shifts accordingly.
Unlimited hierarchy for complex project structures
Simple Gantt supports unlimited levels of parent-child nesting. A phase can contain sub-phases, which contain task groups, which contain individual tasks. This is particularly useful for large projects where a flat list would be unmanageable.
Parent tasks automatically calculate their date range from their children. If a child task's end date moves, the parent adjusts. This cascading calculation works at every level of the hierarchy, so your project's top-level dates always reflect the reality of the detailed schedule beneath them.
Reorder tasks and move them between phases with drag-and-drop. Right-click any element — task, phase, or milestone — for a context menu with common actions: indent, outdent, add child, convert to milestone, and more.
How teams use phases and milestones
Teams typically create phases that match their delivery methodology — whether that's waterfall stages, agile release increments, or a hybrid approach. Milestones mark external commitments: customer demos, regulatory deadlines, or board review dates.
During planning, the hierarchy view lets you build the project top-down (phases first, then tasks) or bottom-up (tasks first, then group into phases). Either way, the auto-calculated dates ensure the overall timeline stays accurate without manual bookkeeping.
Built on Atlassian Forge — phases, milestones, and hierarchy data stay within Atlassian infrastructure.