Pipeline stages
A human picks the stage, the outcome is derived, and the history only appends.
Two axes, not one
The pipeline here keeps two separate things: the stage a human chooses, and the outcome the system derives from it. Conflating those two is exactly what makes pipeline reporting untrustworthy.
The outcome is never written directly. There is nowhere to type "won"; winning is derived from crossing the contract boundary.
Nine stages and one boundary
The canonical axis has nine stages, from first contact to archived. The important boundary sits between the fourth and the fifth: before it you are selling, after it you are delivering.
That boundary is what the colours and the reports key on, and crossing it is what makes the outcome "won". Falling back behind it reopens the record and clears the won date.
The last stage is archived, and there is no way back out of it.
The names are yours, the skeleton is the product's
You can rename every stage for your own service lines or services — "site visit", "awaiting client approval".
But the number of stages and the position of the boundary are fixed, because reporting is built on that skeleton — and if every team had their own, there would be no shared number anywhere.
Read this next
- Pipeline & opportunitiesMoving an opportunityOne step forward is free. A skip or a step back needs a note — and here is why.
- Pipeline & opportunitiesClosing an opportunityThe close options depend on where you are — and "won" is never one of them.
- Pipeline & opportunitiesRename the stages for your firmPut the stages into your own business vocabulary without breaking reporting.
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