chore: updated growth milestone planning process

## Vision

Grow an agile fullstack development capability to support our product goals through feature development and experiments enabling GitLab to make informed product decisions and achieve results in line with our [product direction](/handbook/marketing/growth/).

Our vision is to make it effortless for individuals and teams to discover, activate, and expand enduring value in GitLab by running a full-funnel growth system that connects acquisition, activation, retention and monetization into measurable, self‑served loops.

```mermaid

flowchart TD

    ACQ["Acquisition\nSignup"]

    ACT["Activation\nGet value from the product"]

    MON["Monetization\nPay for the product"]

    ENG["Engagement\nContinue using the product"]

    RET["Retention\nContinue paying for product"]

    INV["Invite Velocity\nInvite others to the product"]

    ACQ --> ACT

    ACT --> MON

    ACT --> ENG

    ENG --> RET

    ENG --> INV

    MON --> RET

    INV --> ACQ

    ACQ --> MON

```

For more details on Growth's mission, direction, and product strategy, see the [Growth product handbook](/handbook/marketing/growth/).

| Role | Person |

|------|--------|

| Product Director | {{< member-by-name "Pearl Shu" >}} |

| Product Director | {{< member-by-name "oben shaul" >}} |

| Engineering Director | {{< member-by-name "Jerome Ng" >}} |

| Engineering Manager | {{< member-by-name "Abhinaba Ghosh" >}} |

| UX Design Manager | {{<member-by-name "Emily Sybrant">}} |

### Product & Design

| Role | Person |

|------|--------|

| Product Managers | {{< member-by-name "Gayle Doud" >}}, {{< member-by-name "Jeff Tucker" >}}, {{< member-by-name "Emma Fergen" >}} |

| Design Manager | {{<member-by-name "Emily Sybrant">}} |

| Design Counterparts | {{< member-by-name "Jesse Young" >}}, {{< member-by-name "Katie Macoy" >}} |

| Product Designers | {{< member-by-name "Jesse Young" >}}, {{< member-by-name "Katie Macoy" >}} |

### Teams & Communication

Our teams collaborate using shared processes and tools:

- [Operating Model](operating_model_growth.md) - operating rhythm for growth

- [Initiative Refinement and Estimation](initiative_refinement_estimation) - continuous refinement process and estimation guidelines

- [Milestone Planning, Refinement and Estimation](initiative_refinement_estimation) - continuous refinement process and estimation guidelines

- [Engineering DRI for Large-Scale Initiatives](engineering_dri) - managing complex workstreams and epics

- [Technical Exploration Guidelines](technical_spikes) - guidelines for research and spike work

- [Growth Experimentation Guidelines](experimentation) - guidelines for growth experimentations