Dependencies (blocked by)

Some work has an order: the permit comes before the flyer, the venue before the invitations. The Dependencies Power-Up lets a card say “blocked by” another card on the same board. While a blocker is open, the card shows Blocked · 1 on its front; when the blocker is done, the hint disappears by itself. There are no dates, lags or charts – just the link.

Board admins switch it on: board → Power-Ups → Dependencies (in the planning group). Like every Power-Up it is part of every plan.

Mark a card as blocked

1. Open the card that has to wait.
2. In the Blocked by section, choose Add a blocker.
3. Type part of the other card’s title or its number (GEM-12) and pick it – or press Enter for the first match.

Editors and admins add and remove blockers. Cards that are done, and cards that would end up waiting for each other, are not offered: a card can never (even through other cards) wait for itself. A card waits for at most 10 cards and blocks at most 50.

The section lists the blockers with their state – open, done, archived – and opens one with a click. Waiting for this card lists the cards that wait for the open one. Remove a link with × next to it; undo brings it back.

When is a card blocked?

A blocker blocks while its card is open – not done and not archived. Completing or archiving the blocker clears the hint; the link stays (it shows the blocker as done) until someone removes it. A blocker that moved to another board or was deleted blocks nothing.

The page with every blocked card

The board header gets the entry Blocked: every open card that waits for an open card, with what it waits for. Filter it by list. Click a card or a blocker to open it.

The notice when a card can start

When someone completes the last open card another card was waiting for, the people assigned to the waiting card get a notice: “Ready to start: everything the card waited for is done”. It arrives in the inbox by default; under notifications → Power-Ups you can get it by push or e-mail too. The person who completed the blocker is not told about their own step.

Copies, moves and imports

• A board copy and a board made from a template take the links between their cards.
• A single card that is copied or moved to another board leaves its links behind (the other card is not there).
• Archived boards keep their links; nothing changes while they are archived.
• Our own export and import keep the links. Trello has no dependencies, so a Trello import brings none; imports from Jira, Asana and other CSV or Excel files leave them out.