Creating Dependencies between Activities in Task Decomposition

Dependencies are necessary in any task decomposition design that includes at least two elements. Task dependency allows reaching an understanding of how tasks and sub-tasks are linked to each other and in what sequence they need to be executed.

Creating dependencies between tasks and their sub-tasks in task decomposition means defining precedence and time-frames between decomposition elements. The following steps can be used to establish dependencies between activities in task breakdown:

• Define the root task including its objectives
• Identify smaller activities or sub-tasks that realize objectives of the root task
• Define goals of sub-tasks and be sure they are linked to objectives of the root task
• Set priority between sub-tasks to determine their sequence
• Evaluate risks that have an impact to sub-tasks and their goals
• Determine resources required for sub-tasks to perform their goals
• Estimate time to identify durations for sub-tasks
• Finalize the decomposition by setting milestones that help track task status.

CentriQS Task Dependency Solution CentriQS lets users set "Finish-to-Start" task dependency when depending task cannot begin until dependent-on task is completed. As soon as predecessor-successor relationship between the tasks is set, successor task gets state 'Blocked' with reason 'By predecessor' and only after predecessor is done, successor gets unblocked. Assigned users can get notifications both when their tasks get blocked and unblocked.