Blockers Explained
Blockers play a crucial role in managing tasks in Motion. They enable you to establish task dependencies and maintain a synchronized workflow. Say goodbye to working in isolation—Blockers ensure everything flows smoothly, keeping your project on track and everyone aligned. 🚀
Benefits of Using Blockers:
Efficient Resource Utilization: By automatically adjusting schedules based on task dependencies, blockers ensure that team members don't waste time waiting for prerequisites to be completed.
Improved Collaboration: Blockers promote collaboration by keeping team members informed about task dependencies and ensuring everyone is aligned on project progress.
Reduced Delays: With blockers in place, delays in one task automatically trigger adjustments in subsequent tasks, minimizing the risk of project delays and ensuring timely delivery of the new feature.
ℹ️ You can only add blockers to tasks within a project.
Two Ways to Create Blockers
From the Project List view:
Start in the Projects tab, your work's starting point.
Identify the workspace where the project is in.
In the workspace section on the left, click the arrow next to the workspace name.
Click on the project name to open the project.
Ensure you're on the List view.
Streamline your workflow by adding blockers in the “Blocking” or “Blocked by” columns. Click on “None” in each row to add blockers.
Walkthrough
From the Project modal:
Navigate to the Projects tab.
In the left sidebar, identify the workspace where the project is in.
Hover over the project name.
Click the 3 dots icon that appears.
Click “Project info” to open the project modal.
Open the task to which you’d like to add dependencies.
Click on “Add task” to add blockers in the “Blocking” or “Blocked by” sections.
Tasks with Blockers on the Calendar
Important things to note about scheduling tasks with blockers:
A blocked task on the calendar will have a 🚫 icon where the status ring is.
A blocked task will be scheduled on the calendar simultaneously with the task that's blocking it.
The blocker task does not need to be in the Completed status before Motion schedules it on the calendar.
Tasks like Dominoes:
Ever had that feeling where your tasks seem to be waiting for that one crucial piece to kickstart everything? That's where our 'Blockers' feature comes into play. By linking tasks within a project, Blockers ensure a seamless flow from one task to the next. And the best part? Our Blockers work hand-in-hand with our auto-scheduling feature across multiple users' calendars, making coordination a breeze.
Efficient Task Progression:
Imagine this: Task 2 relies on Task 1. If Task 1 gets delayed, our system automatically adjusts Task 2's schedule on the respective team member's calendar. No more scheduling headaches or frantic messages. Think of Blockers as your project's traffic controllers, guiding you and your team smoothly through each stage.
Why use blockers:
Using blockers ensures that tasks are scheduled in the right order by our AI Scheduling Algorithm. Plus, if a task in the sequence is missed, Blockers ensure that all subsequent tasks get auto-scheduled accordingly, keeping your project on track.
Orchestrating Projects to Perfection:
Scenario:
Imagine you're part of a software development team tasked with implementing a new feature for an e-commerce platform. The feature involves integrating a secure payment gateway to enhance user experience during checkout.
Task Breakdown:
Task 1: Research Payment Gateways
Assigned to: Jill
Description: Research and evaluate various payment gateways compatible with our platform's tech stack.
Duration: 8 hours
Task 2: Select Payment Gateway
Assigned to: Emily
Description: Based on John's research findings, select the most suitable payment gateway for integration.
Duration: 8 hours
Task 3: Integrate Payment Gateway API
Assigned to: Emily
Description: Develop and integrate the selected payment gateway's API into the platform.
Duration: 16 hours
Blockers Implementation:
Task 2 (Select Payment Gateway) is dependent on Task 1 (Research Payment Gateways). If John doesn't complete his research on time, Emily can't proceed with selecting the payment gateway
Task 3 (Integrate Payment Gateway API) is dependent on Task 2 (Select Payment Gateway). If Emily hasn't finalized the payment gateway selection, David can't start integrating the API.
How Blockers Work:
If Task 1 (Research Payment Gateways) is delayed due to unforeseen circumstances, the system automatically reschedules Task 2 (Select Payment Gateway) on Emily's calendar. This ensures that Emily doesn't start her task until the prerequisite task is completed.
Similarly, if Task 2 (Select Payment Gateway) is delayed, Task 3 (Integrate Payment Gateway API) gets automatically rescheduled on Jill's calendar, preventing her from starting until Emily finishes her task.
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