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Milestones, Acceptance Criteria, Due Dates

Design objective gates, set schedules, and keep teams on-track.

C
Written by Catalin Fetean
Updated over 3 weeks ago

Audience: PMs, Reviewers, Legal
​Outcomes: Clear, testable acceptance; visible risk; fewer disputes

Good acceptance examples

  • “Homepage Figma file + clickable prototype + spec sheet PDF.”

  • “Lighthouse score ≥ 90 on mobile for /home (report attached).”

  • “API passes agreed Postman collection (CI report attached).”

Patterns

  • Deposit milestone (e.g., 30%) due on signature

  • Phase milestones (design → build → launch)

  • Holdback (5–10%) released after warranty period

Anti-patterns

  • Vague wording (“looks good”)

  • “Will finalize later”

Due dates & reminders

  • Each milestone has dueAt (UTC); dashboards show RAG status

  • Reminders:

    • N-day pre-due reminder to contributor

    • Overdue reminder to PM/Admin

    • Optional auto risk flag on overdue

SLAs (examples)

  • Reviewer response ≤ 2 business days

  • Resubmission after rejection ≤ 3 business days

QA checklist

  • Overdue milestones produce reminders & risk flag (if enabled)

  • Acceptance criteria present for each milestone

Runbook: “Wrong timezone on due dates”

  • Ensure client displays local time; API stores UTC; verify browser TZ

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