You can set dependencies between cards in the Gantt chart to automatically plan your card dates based on these dependencies.
Dependencies will not affect the actual, only the plan dates of the cards. Actual dates are set based on the card status (when they were marked as started or completed) and will not be updated.
This article describes the following:
How to set dependencies
Four types of dependencies
Add hours between tasks
Auto-scheduling settings
How to set dependencies between tasks
When you hover a task in the Gantt chart two circles appear at the start and end of the tasks, if you click on one circle and drag your mouse to another task, you will create a dependency between the two tasks, as in the recording in the following section.
Four types of dependencies
There are four ways to link your task;
Finish to start (most common): The first task needs to be finished for the second tasks to start, if the second task start date is before the first task end date, it will get updated. Example: prepare the terrain before building on it.
Finish to finish: The first task needs to be finished for the second tasks to finish, if the second task end date is before the first task end date, it will get updated. Example: a supervision task can only finish when a building task also finishes.
Start to start: The first task needs to be started for the second task to start, if the second task start date is before the first task start date, it will get updated. Example: only start painting the room when another team starts working on the floor makeover (so that those teams work simultaneously).
Start to finish: The first task needs to be started for the second task to finish, if the second task end date is before the first task start date, it will get updated. Example: the night guard can only finish his duty when the morning guard arrives.
The screen recording below shows how to create a dependency between two tasks and how the tasks plan dates are updated when the second task is auto scheduled based on the set dependency.
Edit dependency (remove, change color and set latency)
You can edit the dependency (remove, change color and set latency) by clicking on the dependency.
This way you can set the time between tasks, you can set hours in two ways:
Add extra time between tasks, if task 1 should be finished for task 2 to start, you can set that there should be at least 4 hours in between the tasks, or four hours. Example: paint the walls, wait for four hours and then hang a picture.
Allow overlap between tasks, if task 1 should be finished for task 2 to start, you can set that there can be 4 hours overlap, meaning that task 2 can start 4 hours before tasks 1 is finished. Example: Team B starts working four hours before Team A finishes the predecessor task - it's not necessary to finish it 100%, 80% is enough.
Auto-scheduling settings
There are two auto-scheduling modes; loose (the default mode) and strict.
Loose autoscheduling (default): This will auto schedule tasks only when dependencies are violated. In the screen recording below the finish to start relation is violated when the first tasks is dragged to the future (which will also re-plan the second tasks). Please note that on the second update (moving the task back), the auto-scheduling is not triggered as the relation is not violated.
Strict autoscheduling: This will always auto schedule tasks when you drag tasks with dependencies. In the screen recording below the same task as above is moved, in this case also when the dependency is not violated, the depending cards will be moved to the first available time slot.
This option is available in the Planning dropdown:
Prevent auto-scheduling
The attribute 'Do not auto-schedule card' will prevent the card from being auto-scheduled. You can use this attribute when you want to lock a card.
The screen recording below shows how this attribute affects auto scheduling. When enabled, the card and its depending cards will not be auto-scheduled.
You can also disable this in a board level in the board settings.
More information on Gantt charts
If you want to learn other Gantt-related features, check out the Gantt section in our help center or ask us using the chat button.