Dependencies
Mark a task as blocked by another. Blocked cards carry a padlock in Horizon, and the padlock tells you exactly what is in the way.
By ToDidIt Product TeamUpdated
On any task, pick the tasks it depends on, either from the drawer or from the blocker switch in Quick Capture. The relationship is stored both ways, so the blocking task knows what it is holding up.
A task cannot depend on itself, and you will be told so rather than left wondering why nothing saved.
Two tasks and about a minute. Use real ones if you have a pair where the order genuinely matters.
Open the task that has to wait.
Open All TasksThe blocked task, not the blocker. Dependencies are recorded on the thing that is waiting, which is the way round you will think about it: this cannot start until that is done.
Add the task it depends on.
Pick from the blocker list in the drawer. You can also set one at capture time: ⌘ K has a Blockers switch, which appears once a project is selected. Both tasks need to be in a project, and if they are in different projects this is the point that asks for Squad or Business.
Look at it in Horizon.
Open HorizonThe blocked card now carries a padlock. That is the whole reason to record this: a sprint plan that quietly contains work nobody can start looks fine until the week begins.
Click the padlock, then click the blocker.
It lists what is in the way, and each one opens from there. Finish the blocker and the padlock goes.
Blocked cards are marked in Horizon with a padlock, so a sprint plan does not quietly contain work nobody can start.
The padlock is not just a warning. Click it and it lists the tasks standing in the way, and each one in that list is clickable, so you can open a blocker and finish it without going to hunt for it first. Blocking work you cannot navigate to is just a label.
Tip
A padlock can also mean unfinished subtasks rather than a dependency. The popover says which, because "blocked" with no explanation is the least useful thing an app can tell you.
Not yet, and it is worth knowing before you go looking. Project Blueprint drafts the tasks, their subtasks, priorities and due dates, but it does not wire up blockers: the order it implies lives in the due dates rather than in dependency edges.
So the useful pattern is to let Didi write the plan, then add blockers to the two or three places where the order genuinely matters. Marking everything is how a dependency graph stops meaning anything.
No. The dependency is information, not a lock. You can still open, edit and complete a blocked task, because sometimes the real world does not respect the plan and the tool should not argue with you about it.
Yes, inside a workspace, and it is the common real case: the launch cannot go until legal signs off, and legal lives in another project. Cross-project blockers require Squad or Business. Blockers within a single project work on every plan.
Moving a task to a different workspace prunes any dependency with only one end in the move, since an edge spanning two workspaces would mean nothing.
Similar readings
Everything below is in the Happiness Center.
Subtasks, three levels deep
A task can hold subtasks, and those can hold sub-subtasks. Three levels total, and a parent will not close while a child is still open.
Horizon
The planning container. One set of incomplete tasks, three layouts: Sprint, Calendar and Kanban, switchable in place. Squad and up.
The task drawer
Open any task to get its description, subtasks, dependencies, tags, assignee, comments and dates in one panel, without losing your place in the list.
Quick Capture
⌘ K from anywhere opens a capture box that wins even while you are typing somewhere else. One field and Enter by default, with everything else a switch away.