What are Projects? What should I use them for?

Smart CRM & Sales Hub Tips, Tricks & Best Practices
1

I’m not really understanding the new Projects Object Manage onboarding to-do lists with checklists

What is it for?

What are others using them for?

What problems is it intended to solve?

How are people thinking about this new object in creative ways?

2

Hey @Coopr - thanks so much for posting in the Community!
Per that knowledge base article you referenced, I wanted to outline the description of this object at the top:
“As your team grows, so does the work required to complete your projects: planning campaigns, assigning tasks, ensuring deliverables are on time, and so on. Use HubSpot’s projects to plan and organize your team’s work in one place with structured lists of tasks.” Additionally, we have this knowledge base article, which also outlines a bit about it.
With that said, I’d also like to tag in some experts to see if they have any insight for us! @karstenkoehler, @RubenBurdin, and @danmoyle - do any of you have insight for @Coopr’s specific inquiries regarding the Projects object?
Shane, Senior Community Moderator

3

Hi @Coopr,

Great questions - generally, here’s what HubSpot has in mind for this object:

What is it?

You can now manage projects using a new Project object and visualize them with a Gantt chart view, giving you the ability to execute structured project management directly in HubSpot’s Smart CRM. The Gantt chart view provides a visual timeline of your records and associated tasks, helping you see how work is progressing over time. You can also use table view and board view.

Why does it matter?

Teams managing cross-functional work often struggle with visibility into project timelines and task dependencies. Previously, managing projects in HubSpot required adapting existing tools, leading to scattered information and misalignment. With native project management in the CRM, teams can track progress, adjust timelines, and keep project data connected to workflows and reporting all in one place.

With the Project object and Gantt chart view, teams can:

  • See timelines and tasks in one place
  • Track progress and adjust plans as things change
  • Keep project data connected to workflows, reporting, and the rest of the CRM
  • Align teams around what needs to happen and when

As of now, one could argue that feature-wise, it is very similar to tickets (or any other object that comes with a pipeline logic), with the exception of the Gantt chart view.

Also keep in mind that it’s offered on all paid subscription tiers which gives access to an additional object to everyone who might not have access to custom objects on the Enterprise tier.

Lastly, in terms of features, HubSpot has announced that it’s working on…

In other words, HubSpot is building more functionality that would let you automatically create a set of deliverables automatically once, for example, a deal is closed, handing over a successful sale to fulfilment. It could also be used for onboarding a customer, doing a quarterly business review or work through any set of tasks or items that need to be checked. So far, this hasn’t been a strength of HubSpot and had to be solved through individual tasks that couldn’t be ordered and were typically associated to a deal or a ticket which didn’t make sense for all use cases.

If you want to go about this creatively, you could also use it for internal processes (event planning for example) or anything that would otherwise require Clickup, Wrike, Asana, etc. It seem to me like this is HubSpot’s attempt to offer good enough project management capabilities that you don’t need a third-party tool anymore.

Best regards

4

Hey there @Coopr. So, we’re a HubSpot partner and marketing agency. We’re thinking about Projects for client projects and training & enablement engagements.

At a previous agency we created a custom object called Services for training. We hade stages:

  • Assigned
  • Welcome email sent
  • Kickoff call scheduled
  • Kickoff call completed
  • Working on set up tasks (client)
  • Goal 1
  • Goal 2
  • Goal 3
  • Graduation scheduled
  • Complete
  • Canceled

This helped us monitor their progress, set up workflows for things like “client is assigned but hasn’t scheduled their kickoff call after 7 days” and other admin needs. Now, Projects can do that and it’s not a Custom Object!

I can see it working similar for client projects that take a standard journey (assigned, specific milestones, paused or delayed, completed). These can associate to Deals so once the deal is closed a Project kicks off with the service delivery team.

Just one use case!

5

Hi @Coopr, we recently implemented a Projects-based event process for one of our clients, which turned out to be a really good fit.

In their case, they allow external contacts to host events in their office space. These events are mainly used for lead generation and community building, not for generating direct revenue.

Because of that, using the Deal object didn’t really make sense. Instead, Projects provided a more flexible way to structure and track the process.

Here’s how they’re using it:

  • When someone submits a form to request an event, an internal approval process is triggered
  • Once approved, a Project is automatically created
  • Registrations, cancellations, and no-shows are tracked via forms, workflows, and association labels
  • Automated reminders and communications are sent to attendees

What stood out to us during implementation is that this isn’t really a “one-off project” use case – it’s a repeatable process with a defined lifecycle. Using Projects helped standardize and scale this workflow without forcing it into Deals or Tickets.

In the past, this might have been a use case for a custom object, but Projects offered a much more lightweight and faster-to-implement alternative.

This setup now allows the client to run a fully automated event process while still having a clear structure and reporting layer for all activities.

Curious to see how others are using it as well!