Jira tracks your Dundee studio's tasks. It has no idea which task unlocks the next payment.
If a Dundee studio runs builds in Jira but tracks publisher milestones, contractor invoices, and payment triggers in separate docs, the slipped deadline only surfaces when a payment is late. Custom project management software runs £40,000 to £110,000 over 3 to 6 months and earns it by connecting the work to the money it unlocks.
This is Dundee's signature pain, stated plainly. Asana, Monday, and Jira are excellent at tasks and sprints, but they have no concept of a publisher milestone tied to a payment, a contractor's billable days tied to a deliverable, or a build version tied to a sign-off that releases cash. So a studio runs the work in one tool and the commercial reality, milestones, invoices, deliverables, in scattered docs, and the two only meet when finance notices a payment didn't arrive.
That gap is expensive. A build slips by a week, but because the milestone lives in a spreadsheet and the payment schedule in an email, nobody connects the slip to the cashflow until the invoice ages. The studio discovers a deadline problem as a money problem, weeks too late to manage either well. Generic project tools solved the easy part and left the part that pays the bills disconnected.
The fix: project management built for Dundee, not rented
Custom project management software links the work to the money: a build version connects to a milestone, a milestone to a payment schedule, a contractor's days to a deliverable. When a Dundee studio's deadline slips, the cashflow forecast moves the same day, so a deadline problem stays a deadline problem instead of becoming a surprise money problem weeks later. You get Jira's task tracking plus the commercial layer it never had.
The capability list that earns its budget
What we build under project management in Dundee
The engagements Dundee teams bring us most often: resource scheduling, Asana alternative, Monday.com alternative, Jira integration, time tracking and team collaboration software.
What project management costs in Dundee
| Project scope | Typical cost | Timeline |
|---|---|---|
| Core PM + milestone-payment linking | £40k to £65k | 3 to 4 months |
| Add contractor + cashflow forecasting | £65k to £90k | 4 to 5 months |
| Full PM platform + integrations | £90k to £110k | 5 to 6 months |
How long it takes, phase by phase
Exactly what you get
You get project management where a build version links to a milestone, a milestone to a payment, and a contractor's days to a deliverable. When a Dundee studio's deadline slips, the cashflow forecast updates the same day, so the problem surfaces while it's still a scheduling issue, not weeks later as a late invoice. It keeps Jira-style task tracking and adds the commercial layer that actually pays the studio.
How to choose a developer in Dundee
Choose a team that understands milestone-driven delivery, the heart of Dundee's studio economy, and can show how work links to payment in something they've shipped. Ask them to map a build slipping into a cashflow alert. The right partner integrates with your accounting and CRM so projects and cash stay synced, rather than building another task board that ignores the money the work unlocks.
- Builds, milestones, and payment triggers in one linked view, so a slip is visible immediately
- Cashflow forecast that updates the moment a deadline moves
- Contractor billable days tied directly to the deliverables they produce
- Clear line of sight from a task to the payment it unlocks
- Integration with accounting, CRM, and ERP so projects and cash stay in sync
- Custom PM means you own maintenance Asana and Monday handle for you
- Off-the-shelf tools ship integrations and mobile apps you'd build
- A bespoke tool needs care as your delivery process changes
- For task tracking alone with no payment linkage, Jira is genuinely fine
- !They show a task board with no payment linkage. Ask how a slip becomes a cashflow alert
- !No milestone-to-payment mapping. Ask how work connects to the money it unlocks
- !Contractor days float free of deliverables. Ask how billable work ties to output
- !No accounting integration. Ask how projects and cash stay in sync
- !No reference in milestone-driven studios or agencies. Ask for one
If project management is on the roadmap, field service management, booking & scheduling, mobile app usually follow within the year. Budget them as one conversation.
Rohan advises mid-market and enterprise teams on ERP, CRM and custom software, and has led delivery on dozens of business-software builds.
Writes for Digital Heroes, shipping business software for 2,000+ brands across 55+ countries since 2017.
Frequently asked questions
Why doesn't Jira work for a Dundee games studio's delivery?
Jira tracks tasks and sprints but has no concept of a publisher milestone tied to a payment. So builds live in Jira while milestones and invoices live in docs, and a slipped deadline only surfaces when the linked payment is already late.
Can custom PM software link builds to publisher payments?
Yes, and it's the core reason to build. A build version links to a milestone and a payment schedule, so a slip immediately updates the cashflow forecast instead of surfacing weeks later as an aged invoice.
How does it handle contractor billable days?
Contractor days are tied directly to the deliverables they produce and the budgets that fund them, so billable work maps to output and project margin stays visible across concurrent titles.