Plan a Client Project With Dependencies
Design a cloud project workspace that separates internal planning from client-visible milestones, decisions, and deliverables.
The brief
Understand the problem
Background
Agencies and consultants need detailed internal plans while clients need a simpler view of milestones, approvals, and items awaiting their input.
User context
Talia manages a website redesign with an internal design team and three client stakeholders. The next milestone depends on content approval, which has no clear owner.
Product problem
Sharing the entire internal project creates noise and exposes private notes. Hiding too much leaves the client unaware of blockers and decision deadlines.
Objective
Create a project setup and milestone workflow with role-based internal and client views.
What to design
Define the experience
Required experience
- Project plan with milestones and dependencies
- Internal work view with private notes
- Client portal with decisions and due dates
- Approval request and impact communication
Screens and states
- Project timeline
- Milestone detail
- Internal task view
- Client portal
- Approval request
Core user flow
Follow the critical path
- 01
Talia maps milestones and the dependencies between them
- 02
She marks internal tasks and client-visible deliverables
- 03
She assigns the content approval to a client stakeholder
- 04
The client reviews the deliverable and requests a change
- 05
The timeline shows the potential effect before dates are revised
Product rules
Requirements and constraints
Requirements
- Separate internal, shared, and client-only visibility clearly
- Connect milestones to the decisions and deliverables that unlock them
- Show date impact as a forecast before committing changes
- Record approval scope, version, and participant
- Give clients a focused queue of required actions
- Preserve an audit trail when visibility changes
Constraints
- External users may belong to several client organizations
- A project can contain hundreds of tasks
- Milestone dates may depend on uncertain review time
- Files can have several active versions
Reality check
States worth considering
Finish line
What to deliver
- Design five desktop screens that demonstrate internal planning, client focus, visibility, and approval impact.
Optional direction
Visual resources
Use these as a starting constraint if you want one. They are not part of the required solution.