Looking like we’re going to design and then build it.
I’m thinking the simplest solution would be a ‘phases’ module at the top of a discussion thread. Showing users which phase they are currently on with a short description of how they should interact with it, and allowing them to navigate to past phases if they want to review anything.
The thread closes on a set date or event chosen by the admin/mod who set it up, and then a module appears at the bottom of the closed thread directing users to where they should go next.
We’d automatically subscribe users watching/following one thread to the next (or perhaps just the whole sub-category to make it easier) to keep them engaged.
On the admin/mod side there would be a list of options to choose from for each phase and as many phases as the creator wants when creating a project, and dates/events that end each phase.
The click through method could work, although there is still a little friction in that model. If the next phase/thread loaded underneath the last automatically that would be the ideal situation.
Instead of users having to click that bottom module to get to the next phase, we would prefer we put all phases into a single seamless discussion thread - so when users reach the bottom of one thread the next thread in the series loads below it as if it we’re a seamless, continuous thread broken only by a title and description to explain the rules of the new phase.
That seems more difficult to build and less stable. Especially as some of those tools used in phases will be things that change the appearance of a thread, like Discourse Kanban.