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Do you have any thoughts on how dependent actions could be made less complicated than parallel and sequential subprojects? I haven't been able to figure out how dependent actions might be handled in the UI without adding something like Gantt charts as in OmniPlan.
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I struggled with this a bit and it is a tough one. I wouldn't want to see things get overcomplicated and the parallel/sequential system as it is, is very functional in most circumstances.
After more thought I realized that this is only really an issue in the parallel projects. Imagine a case where you have something like this deeply hypothetical project:
Project: Make soup
Chop carrots and add to pot
Chop onions and add to pot
Chop potatoes and add to pot
Chop garlic and add to pot
Chop tomatoes and add to pot
Add stock to pot
Get Basil from the garden
Chop Basil and add to pot
In this project all the actions can be done at any time except the basil which needs to be gotten from the garden first. Yet, in an example like this it seems more complicated than necessary to create a subproject for "adding basil". Mostly because there is only one action and creating a subproject means I need to make another entry to "house" the project. In the name of efficiency I don't like having to do that all the time.
Plus, For some reason I'm having trouble elevating to project status and then keeping it a "sub-project" although that is likely due to me needing to just spend more time getting the flow down on how to properly deal with the sub-projects. I take the task and make it a project but then when it becomes a sub-project (after dragging it into the project housing it) it takes on a hybrid project/task nature. It has a check box even though it isn't a task and it doesn't show up in context (as it shouldn't) but in the project view it takes up space as a next action unless you manually check it off. This means that real next actions in a squential project with sub-projects don't get made active in contexts unless you go and manually check off the sub-project as done. This is tangential but another reason I want to try and avoid too many subprojects. In my workflow I find I use folders for "over projects and house normal projects in them and this keeps my workflow smooth and projects organized pseudo hierarchically. Until completing all of the actions in a sub-project means that the sub-project container is automatically marked as complete, I will not be able to trust sub-project to not ball up my system and cause me to miss potential next or available actions.
If there were an option on action in parallel projects where you could select the option to make that action dependent on the one directly preceding it in the list, that would be helpful. With it selected then that action would only appear "available" when the one before it was done. With that option you would be able to create a little sequence of actions within a parallel project or just have one of dependents here and there.
I don't know what would be involved in terms of the back end to make this possible. Others might find logistical flaws in this too given their workflows.
Cheers,
Shanana