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Planning

Enable and run cycles

Updated June 9, 2026

Cycles organize work into time-boxed iterations with burndown tracking and velocity metrics. They're turned off by default and enabled per board, so you can run iterations where they help and keep a simple backlog everywhere else. This guide enables cycles, then walks through creating, starting, and completing your first one.

You'll need admin access

Cycles are toggled in Board Settings, which is available to board admins. If you don't see the settings option, ask a board, project, or workspace admin to enable it.

Enable cycles for a board

1

Open Board Settings

On the board, open the board's options menu (the ⋯ more-options button) and choose Board Settings.

2

Go to the Features tab

In the settings sidebar, open Features — the section for turning board features on and off. All data is preserved when you toggle a feature.

3

Turn on Cycles

Find the Cycles row — "Organize work into time-boxed iterations with burndown tracking and velocity metrics" — and switch it on. A Cycles view appears on the board.

Nothing is ever thrown away

If you turn cycles off later, existing cycle data is preserved and reappears the moment you re-enable the feature.

Create your first cycle

Open the Cycles view from the board. When it's empty you'll see "No cycles yet — Create your first cycle to organize work into iterations."

1

Start a new cycle

Click Create Cycle to open the Create New Cycle dialog.

2

Fill in the details

Set the fields:

  • Name — e.g. Cycle 1 or Week 12. Leave it blank and it's auto-generated.
  • Description — the goals for this cycle (optional).
  • Start Date and End Date — pick the range; the Duration in days is calculated for you (1–90 days).
  • Goal Points — an optional points target for burndown and velocity.
3

Create it

Click Create Cycle. It's created as a Draft until you start it.

Add work to a cycle

A cycle is empty until you put tasks in it. You can:

  • Drag tasks from the Backlog section into the cycle, or
  • Open the cycle and click Add Tasks to pick tasks from the board.

You can also set the Cycle field directly on any task, or filter the board by Cycle to focus on one iteration's work.

Start the cycle

When you're ready to begin, click Start Cycle.

Starting shifts the dates to today

On start, Milestone confirms: "This cycle will start now. The dates will be adjusted to begin today." The duration is kept, but the start and end dates shift so the cycle begins today. Only one cycle can be active at a time — finish the active one before starting another.

Once active, the cycle's dates are locked (name, description, and goal stay editable), and the active-cycle dashboard tracks progress, days remaining, scope changes, and burndown.

Complete the cycle

At the end of the iteration, click Complete Cycle. The dialog summarizes how many tasks finished ("X of Y tasks completed") and offers to Move incomplete tasks to next cycle — turn this on to roll unfinished work into a fresh cycle automatically.

Completed cycles move to the History tab, where you can view the completion rate, scope-change analysis, and velocity comparison.

Set cycle defaults (optional)

From the Cycles view, open Settings (Cycle Settings) to configure defaults for this board:

  • Default Duration (days) — duration used for new cycles (1–90, default 14).
  • Auto-create next cycle — automatically create a new cycle when the current one completes.
  • Auto-rollover incomplete tasks — move incomplete tasks to the next cycle on completion (on by default).
  • Cooldown Days — days to wait between cycles (0–30).
  • Naming Pattern — pattern for auto-generated names; use {number} for the sequence (e.g. Sprint {number}).

Click Save Settings to apply.

Turn cycles off

To hide cycles again, switch Cycles off in Board Settings → Features. If a cycle is active or you have draft/upcoming cycles with work in them, Milestone asks how to proceed in a Disable Cycles? dialog:

  • Just hide cycles — hide the feature but leave any active cycle running underneath.
  • Cancel active cycle & disable — cancel the active cycle, then hide cycles.

Either way, all cycle data is preserved and returns when you re-enable cycles.

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