I’ve been trying to see if my ask has already been answered, but most answers I’ve found so far don’t quite have the same situation as what I’m trying to do.
Currently I have a rule set up that will create a subtask (which shows up in another project board) with a relative due date; the subtask is always set to be due 2 days before the deadline of the main task.
When the main task is first created, this rule works as intended. The problem is when the due date of the main task is changed; the subtask deadline never updates. This causes me to constantly have to monitor the due date of the main task–which are updated by another team–and manually update the due date of the subtask.
I’ve read the help article about auto-shifting dates for dependent tasks, but this doesn’t seem to fit my specific scenario. Not only that, I don’t even have the option to see “manage dependencies” in any of my projects so it’s not even doable.
Would appreciate any advice if this is something that is doable but needs a certain set up, or confirmation if for some reason it’s not feasible in Asana (which itself is kind of baffling).
Hi @Kathie_Zhang, welcome to the community! Totally get the pain here. I’ve run into this too when another team moves dates. Right now, Asana doesn’t re-evaluate a subtask’s relative due date after it’s created, so changing the parent task’s due date won’t automatically update the existing subtask.
A few workable options I’ve used:
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Project rule on the parent tasks project: trigger Due date changes then action Create subtask with the new relative due date. This gives you a fresh, correctly dated subtask each time the parent moves. You can add a note like Auto-created on parent date change and manually complete the old one. Not perfect, but it avoids constant re-dating.
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Dependencies with auto-shift: if you can use dependencies and Timeline, dependent tasks will shift when a predecessor moves. Heads up though, your specific subtask always due 2 days before parent is tricky since predecessors dont auto-move earlier when the successor changes. It helps if you flip the relationship and plan from the earlier work forward, but it wont keep a strict -2 days offset in every case.
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Templates for recurring processes: if this is a repeatable flow, set relative due dates in a template and regenerate when the anchor date changes.
If Manage dependencies isnt visible, try opening the projects Timeline view and check your plan/permissions. You can also skim the Help Center if you want a quick refresher on rules and dependencies: Asana Help Center