diff --git a/.github/workflows/bump-stage-and-upload-to-jfrog.yml b/.github/workflows/bump-stage-and-upload-to-jfrog.yml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a15a084be
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/bump-stage-and-upload-to-jfrog.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+on:
+  workflow_call:
+    inputs:
+      passed-dev-tag:
+        type: string
+        description: Dev tag to fast forward the stage branch to
+        required: true
+    secrets:
+      # Used to bump version in Github
+      CLIENT_BOT_PAT:
+        required: true
+      # Used to upload to JFrog
+      JFROG_PLATFORM_URL:
+        required: true
+      JFROG_ACCESS_TOKEN:
+        required: true
+
+jobs:
+  ff-stage-to-dev-tag:
+    name: Fast forward stage branch to the dev tag that passed stage testing
+    uses: ./.github/workflows/fast-forward-merge.yml
+    with:
+      ref_to_merge: ${{ inputs.passed-dev-tag }}
+      base_branch: ${{ vars.STAGE_BRANCH_NAME }}
+    secrets: inherit
+
+  promote-dev-build-to-rc:
+    name: Bump (promote) the dev version to an RC version in the stage branch
+    needs: ff-stage-to-dev-tag
+    uses: ./.github/workflows/bump-version.yml
+    with:
+      change: 'promote-dev-build-to-rc'
+      ref: ${{ vars.STAGE_BRANCH_NAME }}
+    secrets: inherit
+
+  rebuild-artifacts-with-rc-version:
+    needs: promote-dev-build-to-rc
+    uses: ./.github/workflows/build-wheels.yml
+    with:
+      ref: ${{ needs.promote-dev-build-to-rc.outputs.bump_sha }}
+
+  upload-rc-artifacts-to-jfrog:
+    needs: [
+      rebuild-artifacts-with-rc-version,
+      # We need the new RC version to label the build in JFrog
+      promote-dev-build-to-rc
+    ]
+    name: Upload artifacts to JFrog
+    uses: ./.github/workflows/upload-to-jfrog.yml
+    with:
+      version: ${{ needs.promote-dev-build-to-rc.outputs.new_version }}
+    secrets: inherit
+
+  ff-dev-to-stage:
+    name: Fast forward dev branch to stage branch to include the bump to RC commit
+    needs: promote-dev-build-to-rc
+    uses: ./.github/workflows/fast-forward-merge.yml
+    with:
+      ref_to_merge: origin/${{ vars.STAGE_BRANCH_NAME }}
+      base_branch: ${{ vars.DEV_BRANCH_NAME }}
+    secrets: inherit
diff --git a/.github/workflows/dev-to-stage.yml b/.github/workflows/dev-to-stage.yml
index c548d2022..499f573f0 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/dev-to-stage.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/dev-to-stage.yml
@@ -5,90 +5,52 @@ on:
   workflow_dispatch:
 
 jobs:
-  get-latest-dev-tag:
+  # We want to skip the stage tests if the changes made between dev and stage wouldn't affect the results of the stage tests
+  compare-latest-dev-tag-and-stage:
     outputs:
-      latest-dev-version: ${{ steps.get-dev-version.outputs.latest-dev-version }}
+      latest-dev-tag: ${{ steps.get-dev-tag.outputs.latest-dev-tag }}
+      run_stage_tests: ${{ steps.run_stage_tests.outputs.run_stage_tests }}
     runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
     steps:
     - uses: actions/checkout@v4
       with:
         # Get all tags
         fetch-depth: 0
-        ref: ${{ vars.DEV_BRANCH_NAME }}
 
-    - name: Get latest dev version
-      run: echo latest-dev-version=$(git describe --tags --abbrev=0) >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
-      id: get-dev-version
+    - name: Get latest dev tag
+      run: echo latest-dev-tag=$(git describe --tags --abbrev=0 origin/${{ vars.DEV_BRANCH_NAME }}) >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+      id: get-dev-tag
 
-    - name: Output latest dev version (for debugging)
-      run: echo ${{ steps.get-dev-version.outputs.latest-dev-version }}
+    - name: Get number of files that were changed between dev and stage (with some exceptions)
+      run: echo NUM_FILES_CHANGED=$(git diff origin/${{ vars.STAGE_BRANCH_NAME }}..origin/${{ vars.DEV_BRANCH_NAME }} --name-only | grep --invert-match --count -e "^doc/" -e "^aerospike-stubs/" -e VERSION) >> $GITHUB_ENV
+      # We want this step to fail if a command failed while using pipes
+      shell: bash
+
+    - name: If any files were changed besides the exceptions, run the stage tests
+      run: echo run_stage_tests=${{ env.NUM_FILES_CHANGED != '0' }} >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+      id: run_stage_tests
 
   run-stage-tests:
+    needs: compare-latest-dev-tag-and-stage
+    if: ${{ needs.compare-latest-dev-tag-and-stage.outputs.run_stage_tests == 'true' }}
     uses: ./.github/workflows/stage-tests.yml
-    needs: get-latest-dev-tag
     with:
-      ref: ${{ needs.get-latest-dev-tag.outputs.latest-dev-version }}
+      ref: ${{ needs.compare-latest-dev-tag-and-stage.outputs.latest-dev-tag }}
     secrets: inherit
 
-  ff-stage-to-dev-tag:
+  # Stage tests have passed or skipped
+  # so it is safe to update the stage branch with the changes in dev, promote the version to an RC, and rebuild and upload the RC to JFrog
+  # We store the subsequent jobs after the stage tests in a separate reusable workflow...
+  # because if stage tests were skipped, all subsequent jobs will be skipped by default too (both direct and indirect descendents)
+  # This means we have to add a manual check for each subsequent job that checks if the stage tests were skipped in order to run them
+  # It's easier to just add this manual check once to a reusable workflow that wraps around all the subsequent jobs
+  bump-stage-and-upload-to-jfrog:
     needs: [
       run-stage-tests,
-      get-latest-dev-tag
-    ]
-    uses: ./.github/workflows/fast-forward-merge.yml
-    with:
-      ref_to_merge: ${{ needs.get-latest-dev-tag.outputs.latest-dev-version }}
-      base_branch: ${{ vars.STAGE_BRANCH_NAME }}
-    secrets: inherit
-
-  promote-dev-build-to-rc:
-    needs: ff-stage-to-dev-tag
-    uses: ./.github/workflows/bump-version.yml
-    with:
-      change: 'promote-dev-build-to-rc'
-      ref: ${{ vars.STAGE_BRANCH_NAME }}
-    secrets: inherit
-
-  delete-dev-artifacts:
-    needs: promote-dev-build-to-rc
-    runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
-    steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
-      # We can't upload to the same artifact name with upload-artifact@v4
-      # So we must delete the artifacts produced by stage-tests.yml
-      # Before rebuilding the artifacts with the new RC version
-      - name: Remove artifacts with dev version
-        uses: geekyeggo/delete-artifact@v4
-        with:
-          name: '*.build'
-
-  rebuild-artifacts-with-rc-version:
-    needs: [
-      delete-dev-artifacts,
-      promote-dev-build-to-rc
-    ]
-    uses: ./.github/workflows/build-wheels.yml
-    with:
-      ref: ${{ needs.promote-dev-build-to-rc.outputs.bump_sha }}
-
-  upload-to-jfrog:
-    needs: [
-      rebuild-artifacts-with-rc-version,
-      promote-dev-build-to-rc
-    ]
-    name: Upload artifacts to JFrog
-    uses: ./.github/workflows/upload-to-jfrog.yml
-    with:
-      version: ${{ needs.promote-dev-build-to-rc.outputs.new_version }}
-    secrets: inherit
-
-  ff-dev-to-stage:
-    needs: [
-      get-latest-dev-tag,
-      upload-to-jfrog
+      compare-latest-dev-tag-and-stage
     ]
-    uses: ./.github/workflows/fast-forward-merge.yml
+    if: ${{ !cancelled() && needs.compare-latest-dev-tag-and-stage.result == 'success' && (needs.run-stage-tests.result == 'success' || needs.run-stage-tests.result == 'skipped') }}
+    uses: ./.github/workflows/bump-stage-and-upload-to-jfrog.yml
     with:
-      ref_to_merge: origin/${{ vars.STAGE_BRANCH_NAME }}
-      base_branch: ${{ vars.DEV_BRANCH_NAME }}
+      passed-dev-tag: ${{ needs.compare-latest-dev-tag-and-stage.outputs.latest-dev-tag }}
     secrets: inherit
diff --git a/.github/workflows/dev-workflow-p1.yml b/.github/workflows/dev-workflow-p1.yml
index 6887bb785..7d2c5cda7 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/dev-workflow-p1.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/dev-workflow-p1.yml
@@ -10,6 +10,10 @@ on:
       - review_requested
     branches:
       - 'dev*'
+    paths-ignore:
+      - 'doc/**'
+      - 'aerospike-stubs/**'
+
   # So we can test changes to the test-server-rc workflow
   workflow_dispatch:
     inputs: