Trello’s hidden super-power is its flexibility. It is a blank canvas on which you can lay workflows that fit your organization’s needs.

In this article, we focus on using Trello for project management, and in particular in how to manage task dependencies.

In project management, the completion of a task often requires the prior completion of other tasks. In order words, a task depends on other tasks.

A task’s dependencies can be:

Sub-tasks : The task is broken down into smaller steps. When those smaller steps (sub-tasks) are completed, the task is completed. For example, preparing a meal may involve preparing several courses, and each of these courses may have multiple elements that need to be cooked or prepared. Once all sub-tasks are complete, the main task is complete too.

: The task is broken down into smaller steps. When those smaller steps (sub-tasks) are completed, the task is completed. For example, preparing a meal may involve preparing several courses, and each of these courses may have multiple elements that need to be cooked or prepared. Once all sub-tasks are complete, the main task is complete too. Pre-requisites: A task requires some other task(s) to be completed before it can start. For example, we can’t start baking a pie until it has been assembled. Once all pre-requisites are complete, the task can start.

An example task dependency chart. Red lines depict sub-tasks, blue lines depict pre-requisites.

Trello doesn’t have task dependency management built in, but you can use Trello elements, such as checklists and link attachments, to represent and manage task dependencies.

What we want is a system in which:

Each task has a list of all its dependencies.

The tasks are linked so it’s easy to jump to a dependency and back.

When the dependencies for a task are completed, it can be automatically moved to a new state.