Task dependencies

A dependency says one task can only start once another is finished (or some time after). Move the first task, and the second can automatically follow.

Create a dependency from the task panel

Open the task that should wait on another one, and find the Venter på (Waiting on) card.

The Waiting on card in the task panel, empty

Click +, pick which task it should wait on, and fill in the lag.

The dialog for picking which task this task should wait on

Lag in days and an optional note filled in

Click Tilføj (Add). The dependency now shows as a card with a days-of-lag badge and a way to remove it again.

A created dependency shown with a badge for the number of days of lag

Create a dependency directly on the Gantt chart

Two shortcuts also exist on the timeline itself:

Drag a link: hover over a task bar — two small dots appear at either end. Drag from a dot onto another task’s bar to connect them.
Chain several at once: Ctrl/Cmd-click several task bars in the order they should follow each other. A bar at the bottom of the screen shows the selected tasks — click Kæd i rækkefølge (Chain in order) to create dependencies between all of them at once, or Ryd valg (Clear selection) to start over.

Both paths ask you for a lag before the dependency is created.

Lag vs. slack

Two different things that are easy to mix up:

Forsinkelse (dage) / Ventetid (dage) (Lag, in days) — a property of the dependency itself. It sets how many days must at least pass from when the first task ends to when the second may start. 0 means the next task can start the same day. A negative value allows the tasks to overlap (the next one starts before the first is fully done) — useful for things like drying time, where some of the work can proceed anyway.
Slack (luft) — calculated automatically for every task, and not something you set yourself. It’s how many days a task can slip without delaying the project’s delivery date or the task waiting on it. A task with zero or negative slack sits on the critical path — any delay here delays the whole project.

What happens when a task moves?

If a task with successors shifts its end date, Optiro automatically checks whether that affects the tasks waiting on it:

If the successor has enough slack, it absorbs all or part of the shift and doesn’t move itself.
If not, the successor gets pushed forward too — and the same happens recursively down the chain.
You get a notification when this happens: “Afhængige opgaver flyttet” (Dependent tasks moved), naming the task(s) that followed along.

A dependency can’t be created if it would form a cycle (task A waits on B, which waits on A), or if the tasks don’t belong to the same project.

Next steps

Book an interval — see how a task’s actual bookings move when a dependency triggers a shift.