From Stuck to Success: Ensuring Progress with Proactive Project Management

As a project manager, I often view our work differently from our developers. While the dev team focuses on solving technical challenges, my job is to ensure projects stay on track and meet both deadlines and client expectations. One of the key tools we use to manage tasks is Jira, where every ticket moves through various stages like “Defining Work,” “Waiting for Approval,” “Ready for Implementation,” “Testing,” “Deployable,” and finally “Completed.”

Many of our clients prefer to test the work themselves on a staging environment. This makes sense—after all, merchants know their shop best. However, we’ve noticed when clients test on their own, projects tend to slow down—especially when testing is not part of their regular routine.

Testing Delays: How Client Involvement Impacts Project Flow

Recently, we analyzed a large number of tickets across various projects, and an interesting pattern emerged: tasks often get delayed when they are awaiting client testing. This delay is particularly noticeable with clients who don’t frequently request deployments or new work.

Clients with regular weekly or bi-weekly check-ins (what we call a “jour fixe”) tend to keep their projects moving. This consistent communication helps us stay aligned and push tasks forward. But for clients who only occasionally engage or request updates, tasks can easily get stuck in the “Testing” phase—sometimes for weeks or even months.

Why Does This Happen?

Several factors contribute to this slowdown, but they all come down to one core issue: a lack of communication—either in terms of frequency or content.

Client Availability: Often, the client doesn’t have time to test right away and, over time, simply forgets about the pending tasks.
Misunderstanding of Project Status: In some cases, the client isn’t fully aware that we’re waiting on them to test and approve. Without regular check-ins, tickets fall through the cracks.
Ping-Pong Delays: When clients do test, they sometimes have additional questions or need clarification on certain aspects. If this back-and-forth communication isn’t handled promptly, the task can easily get stuck in limbo.

Shifting Focus to New Work: A Common Pitfall

For us as an agency, the temptation is often to prioritize new tasks and new clients—especially when we bill by the hour, rather than through fixed-price contracts. It’s easy to get caught up in defining new tasks on the left side of the Jira board, while older tasks on the right (those waiting for client approval) remain incomplete.

However, this is a costly mistake. Closing out tasks is critical for several reasons:

Client Satisfaction: Leaving tasks incomplete leads to frustration on both sides. Delayed tasks give the impression of incomplete work, even if our part is done.
Team Morale: Developers also prefer to see tasks completed. It’s demotivating to have old tickets lingering in the backlog, especially if they’ve already done their part and are just waiting for client approval.
Capacity Planning: When tasks remain open, it becomes difficult to accurately plan capacity for upcoming work. It’s frustrating to deal with urgent requests from a client for a task that’s been dormant for months, only to have it resurface right before another deadline.
Billing Disputes: The longer a task stays open, the more likely it is that a client will question past invoices. Closing tasks quickly reduces the risk of disagreements over old bills.

Our Solution: Proactive Weekly Summaries

So how do we keep these projects moving forward, especially when clients are less engaged? Over the years, we’ve tried many approaches, with mixed success. If a client is interested in a regular jour fixe, they usually already have one in place. For the others, we’ve found a new method that seems to work well: Proactive Weekly Summaries.

Each Monday, I review all my projects and send a brief email to clients if needed. This email provides:

A snapshot of upcoming tasks for future releases.
A reminder of any open tasks that require their attention, particularly those stuck in testing.

This approach offers several advantages:

Keeps Clients Informed: Clients appreciate the proactive communication. It’s a gentle nudge reminding them that there are tasks waiting for their approval, without being too intrusive.
Control Over Communication and Prioritization: As the project manager, I control both the content and the focus of the email. I can highlight the most critical or urgent issues, whether it’s an upcoming software update, a release date, or missing credentials from the client. This also allows me to prioritize what needs their attention most at the current stage of the project.
Efficient Use of Time: This process is faster and more cost-effective than scheduling a full jour fixe. I can bill this time as project management, but it’s typically more efficient and flexible, allowing me to address key issues directly without lengthy meetings, and without the distraction of client-led discussions on less relevant topics.

In addition to this proactive approach, clients are, of course, always welcome to come to us with new tasks and requirements. When they do, these tasks enter our regular workflow, following the same Jira process described above—from task definition through to deployment and testing. This keeps everything organized and ensures that no task is overlooked or mishandled.

Conclusion: Maintaining Momentum Through Regular Client Updates

In eCommerce projects, regular communication is the key to keep tasks moving and avoiding delays—especially when clients are responsible for testing and approving work. By proactively reaching out with Proactive Weekly Summaries, we take the lead in ensuring that projects don’t stall, and we give clients a clear view of where their attention is needed.

While a jour fixe is ideal for some clients, not all are willing or able to commit to regular meetings. Our weekly email approach offers a flexible, efficient alternative that still keeps projects on track. And crucially, it allows us to stay in control of the project’s momentum, ensuring that no ticket is left behind.

By combining regular communication with a structured Jira process, we maintain clarity, avoid unnecessary delays, and continue to deliver high-quality work—even when client engagement fluctuates.

TL;DR: eCommerce projects often get stuck when testing by clients is delayed. Regular communication, like weekly check-ins or proactive email summaries, helps keep things moving and ensures tasks don’t fall through the cracks. Therefore: Stay proactive to avoid delays and keep projects on track!