Is there a way to create a dependency on a task?
Answered
Is there a way to create a dependency on an item (due date, x must be completed first, etc.).
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Hi Giusep,
Podio is a very versatile platform, and that comes with certain trade-offs. It's excellent as a database, in that you can store pretty much any structure data you can come up with, but it's not designed to be a project management system, with the features you'd find in dedicates software like MS Project. That means things like Gantt charts or dependencies aren't supported.
You can though create relations among items by adding an "App reference" field. If you need relationships between projects, that's doable this way. If you need relationships between tasks, that's possible only if you're willing to create a "Tasks" app, where every task is an item, which will probably prove cumbersome.
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Thanks for the reply Dan - I was hoping for a different response but after spending a fair amount of time testing it I had expected as much.
I might add that it does come up when Googling project management and the marketing of the application pitches it as PM software (See the Title code of the home page) however it does fall short in the sense of traditional PM needs, or at least I have them. That said, I'm upset as it really is the best interface I have found and I think it is brilliant at doing what it does. What an anti-climax! :(
Oh well, I'll be watching this space and I take my hat off to the guys at Podio - the features that they do deliver on, are done in a benchmark fashion. Cheers, G.
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@KC Law: No. The API lets tasks reference another object, but not another task - https://developers.podio.com/doc/tasks
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This might be interesting reading for some of you: http://www.podiohelp.com/event-based-task-creation/
//Sara - Podio
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Everything Podio has to offer looks really great but a linear set of tasks doesn't give us a good idea when milestones are met. This is especially true during a deployment when progressing through different environments. I was hoping to see a set of tasks and sub-tasks like in MS Project and Podio would allow all the players to check off their tasks so the rest of us can see things getting done.
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James, Ankur - Podio isn't a project management tool per se, like Wrike. It's rather a very flexible general-purpose database tool. Now a project can be thought of as a set of tasks with properties, and in that sense, can be mapped over a database. If you're wiling to go to the length of creating a new app item for every task, then you can have related tasks and all that (just add an App Reference field).
But you'll never get the speed and Project Management -specific features of, say, Write, or MyLifeOrganized. It takes me five seconds (including typing) to add a task to MLO (because it has incremental as-you-type search), while in Podio it would take at least a minute. Gannt charts aren't possible natively, let alone time reallocation features you'd find in MS Project or Liquid Planner.
On the other hand, whenever I need to share structured data, I turn to Podio (or a Google Spreadsheet). The right tool for the right job. Can't really blame Podio, save perhaps for being sometimes presented as a project management tool, when in actuality it's more of a CRM or general database and collaboration tool (the latter especially accurate after the Citrix acquisition, when we started seeing features like instant messaging and now voice & video chat).
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Dan
What you say makes sense. Yet Podio IS selling itself as a project management solution.
https://company.podio.com/project-management-software
How they can claim to do project management without the simple concept of task dependencies or workflows is beyond me.
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Hey James, Ankur, and Dan.
Very interesting thoughts - thanks for sharing. Just a small add-on from here that project management can be so many things and the power of Podio is the flexibility that allows you to build the apps to suit your project. I agree that task dependencies will be highly useful (and we want to make it possible), but I also think that people manage their projects in different ways where some would prefer simplicity. Myself as example, - I still use a pen and paper to keep track of my to-do list :)
We are also trying to position ourselves away from other traditional project management software - in the link you refer to we state "Unlike traditional project management software" - but I guess we could also improve how we describe Podio and what Podio can really do so we don't promise things that are not possible.
On a final note, we do agree that a feature of workflow building and tasks dependencies is highly relevant and that this is something we will add in the future - the challenge is to make it work along Podio existing features and structure without making the product too complicated. We still want Podio to work for the student or individual that "just" wants to manage a project related to a student paper and doesn't need complex work-flows :)
Cheers to all of you
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At this time, the amount of tradeoffs needed to build any functional workflow is making my head hurt.
Podio seems was designed to work perfectly for podio inc. If any process diverge from the podio way, you are SOL. SAP is famous for imposing a single vision for its client. I guess you can now add podio to the mix.
There is no solution out there that combine knowledge management and some promise of workflow. But the limitations such as setting up dependencies, auto triggers… is really reducing the value of Podio. You promote simplicity, but every time you dare to dream of any automation or modern workflow management, we are referred to the API. What is easy in that?
This thread is almost 12 months old! Frankly stop agreeing with everyone and just get this done!
Sincerely, potential fan, advocate, evangelist, paying customer....
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I am casting another vote for **dependencies, auto triggers, date on auto tasks, **and an easy way to rearrange them. I've been thinking of ways to set up an organization with a smoother flow a few months back and had bookmarked this page. Now that I am actually been given a go to set it up, I returned to this page hoping to see a solution, but I see it is still in discussion. How many votes do you need to make it a go? I thought the citrix communication addition was cool, but as of yet haven't had a need for it. The unique ID was a nice surprise, but not being able to search it doesn't make sense (unless I am missing something.)
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Podio doesn't have an actual user voting site powered by, say, Uservoice or GetSatisfaction (e.g. http://xero.uservoice.com/forums/5528-xero-api). This is of course only my impression, but features like automatic IDs are far less critical than, say, search actually working in the Android app. Same for live comments... how often is that actually useful, vs. the number of people who have complained about the inability to customize badges, or create dependencies among tasks?
Looks like the agenda is driven by Citrix now, who should perhaps better gauge customer feedback.
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Hey guys,
You can actually vote for features here: https://help.podio.com/forums/21262162-Feature-Requests
@Dan, you can see the Podio team listed here: https://company.podio.com/team - the agenda is driven by the people within this team - and from getting feedback from users and the Podio Community.
Please keep this thread related to creating dependencies on tasks :) And if you can't wait for us feel free to develop your own solution based on our API.
//Sara - Podio
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Not sure if this will help anyone, but I found https://zapier.com/ which lets you make all kinds of connections /tasks, etc between podio and other services (I think something like over 200 services). In my application, I wanted a task to launch evernote, and then upon completion of the evernote task launch a podio task for editing. It can work on the worspace level as well as apps. While it lets you automate this (and many other things) there is limited free use, and a pay system as well. And a word of warning, while the zapier site makes it appear very user friendly (and it mostly is), depending on what you are trying to accomplish, may be a bit more involved.
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The only way I've found to do this (sort of) is to use workflows to create bridges between apps within a workspace.
So, for example, let's say you have an editorial calendar. Your workflow requires a content item to be approved before it's published. Your process could be the following.
Mark a content item in a Content app as "Needs Review". Use a Podio workflow that picks up on that trigger and creates an item in an Approval app—an app whose items only a certain approver can manage. When that approver marks the item as "Approved", another Podio workflow could create an item in a Ready-to-Go app that more people have permission to manage. (Or, if the content is rejected, a workflow could work in the other direction, editing the original item in your Content app.)
It's not an elegant process, isn't task-based, and absolutely risks creating a one-person bottleneck, but it could be used to basically fake a Podio dependency if your editorial process is fairly simple.
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Hi Tony,
If you have GlobiFlow then you can trigger tasks when other tasks are completed:
http://www.globiflow.com/help/trigger-on-task-completion.php
/Jacquelyn - Podio
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Hi Peter and Roger:
GlobiFlow is no longer a third-party service - it was acquired by Citrix in 2017 and therefore this is available on Podio Premium plan:
http://www.globiflow.com/help/trigger-on-task-completion.php
//Sara - Podio
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