Task dependencies
A dependent reminder waits. Set B to depend on A and B never fires until A is finished, which is what you want for anything where doing the second thing first is pointless.
What it does
A reminder with a dependency does not fire while the reminder it depends on is still outstanding. It sits in the queue, visible and marked, doing nothing. When the blocker is completed, the dependent one is released and behaves normally from then on.
Where it earns its place is anything with a genuine order:
- "Chase the invoice" waits on "send the invoice"
- "Book the flights" waits on "get the dates confirmed"
- "Publish the post" waits on "get the review back"
Without it you either set the second reminder for a guessed date, or you do not set it at all and rely on remembering — which is the thing this product exists to replace.
Setting one up
Turn dependencies on in Settings → Organising. That adds a field to the composer; it is off by default because it is one more control on a form that most saves do not need.
Then, on the reminder that should wait, pick the reminder it waits for. The dependent reminder still has a time of its own — the dependency decides whether it may fire, not when.
When the blocker is finished
Mark the blocker as done and everything waiting on it is released at once. If a released reminder's own time has already passed, it fires straight away; if it is still ahead, it simply resumes counting down.
Completion is what releases a dependent, not the blocker merely firing. A notification going off says the reminder arrived, not that the work happened — fired is not done covers the distinction, and it is the same reason completion exists at all.
If the blocker is deleted
Its dependents are released rather than stranded. A reminder that can never fire because the thing it was waiting for no longer exists would be a silent failure, and silent failures are the one category this product cannot afford.
Dependencies or a follow-up?
They sound similar and solve different problems.
| Use when | |
|---|---|
| Dependency | Both reminders already exist and one must not go first. |
| Follow-up | The second reminder should not exist yet. "Apply for the job" on Friday, and "did they reply?" a week after you actually apply — declared on the first reminder and created when you complete it. |
A follow-up is created by finishing, never by firing, and a follow-up cannot carry a follow-up of its own — a reminder that regenerates forever is a repeat with extra steps. Undoing a completion takes the follow-up away with it.
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