diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 42eaa83c3f920be4fa7df41b50900f320c8836c0..074004734a84f6fcaffc5f7305b54e76809404da 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -12,12 +12,12 @@ before_script:
   - "git fetch https://gitlab.haskell.org/ghc/ghc-performance-notes.git refs/notes/perf:refs/notes/perf || true"
 
 stages:
-  - lint
-  - build
-  - full-build
-  - cleanup # See Note [Cleanup on Windows]
-  - packaging
-  - hackage
+  - lint       # Source linting
+  - build      # A quick smoke-test to weed out broken commits
+  - full-build # Build all the things
+  - cleanup    # See Note [Cleanup on Windows]
+  - packaging  # Source distribution, etc.
+  - hackage    # head.hackage testing
 
 ############################################################
 # Runner Tags