Parent Task Info in Sub Task

Im looking for a way to easily see information entered at the master task level in a subtask

We use tasks to track campaigns launches - each campaign has 3 parts handled by different people which are set as subtasks so the campaign owner will know when everything is live. I would like to make it easy to have all the information entered once at the master level, but when you’re looking at the subtask you would be able to see the info. This way the subtask assignee will have all the information they need without clicking over into the master task. I can add the subtasks to another project with custom fields, but filling in the info at each subtask level makes setting up the campaign task too cumbersome which is why all the budget info is listed in the parent task. This also gives an easy overview for the whole campaign.

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Hi Jules,

Looks like you’re a natural at keeping things organized! I see your logic here, but unfortunately at this time subtasks cannot contain the master task info at the subtask level (assuming you’re talking about custom fields specifically). I recommend that instead of relying on subtasks for this purpose, you use sections and tasks at the project level. That said, you might be interested in the engaging debate about subtasks folks have had in the community here: To Subtask or not to Subtask

Let us know if you’d like us to workshop any of this with you. :slight_smile:

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Thanks @Alexis!! My ADD needs the built in organizational structure and I’m all about categories lol - My only issues are keeping my processes simplified enough that they’re realistically useable, lol. Thanks for sharing that debate! Its certainly an ongoing negotiation over here figuring out what works best for what between header breaks, custom fields and subtasks. I’ve liked the subtasks because I can create a template task and if Ive added the subtasks to another project it will automatically add the new subtasks to those projects when I copy the parent task.

As far as my original ask goes - I guess it would be a product enhancement request at this point- The ability to link custom fields from the parent into the subtask would be ideal and solve pretty much all my problems, but even being able to create the subtask similar to the way you would copy a parent task where you can select the checkboxes for what info you want copied over (description/custom fields etc). or I guess essentially being able to copy the task into a subtask without the extra dragging workarounds would be really helpful. Things are pretty busy at the moment, so getting my team to enter info on multiple screens to create a task is difficult and we end up with incomplete data, but creating multiple tasks for a single campaign ends up overwhelming the project as one client/project might have 4+ campaigns launching at a given time on 3 platforms each, as well as different services. It also

The way Ive managed things so far is to have a project for each client, within that making a header for each service they use. Then the parent campaign/task is added to the relevant section in the client’s project. I set up an All Campaigns overview project and added the master task as well as the subtask for each platform’s launch using headers to break them out, additionally each subtask is added to a platform specific project. I use headers to separate out the different services we offer in addition to campaign management and custom fields for budget/info. I really like being able to use a task template to auto add the subtasks to multiple projects in this way. This was we are able to have the parent task going to the client and overview projects, while the subtasks go to the platform specific and overview projects and use the headers to help auto sort them within the project. However I agree with the discussion in that getting information into the subtasks is clunky and keeping it all in the parent task helps with having a quick overview which is important to see a full budget breakout at the client level. For now I guess we’ll just keep going over to the parent task for that info, using the link at the top of the subtask isn’t terrible but it would be really helpful to have it in each subtask and it would save time by not having to create the task and then go back in to edit. I also I really like the overview options for the custom fields at the project level where you can quickly see the priority or budget for all tasks but currently that requires entering it a second time.

I’ve signed up for a couple the webinar training sessions and I’ll definitely keep a workshop in mind - what exactly would that entail? As a heads up the on-demand ones seem to have broken links. I attached a couple screenshots incase that helps clarify how Im doing things currently which I think has turned out pretty great and is easy to use barring the sub/parent task workarounds.

Basically I start with an project overview of all the campaigns for every client:

Parent campaigns are sorted by client owner and the ‘By Service’ section has the subtasks for each campaigns sorted by team member which are also in the client project while the subtasks are also sorted at the platform level – Im trying to transition us from just adding the parent task into all the projects, because you cannot check them off that way so it hasn’t been as helpful as it could be and we’ve ended up adding tasks to tons of different projects. Some team members are good about creating the finished header and moving things, but others are not and it can get messy which is why I started looking into the subtasks. Breaking them out as tasks isn’t ideal as it makes it harder for the campaign owner to double check that all pieces have launched.

Each client then also has a project that is organized with headers for each of the different services we provide - including Campaigns which has the campaign parent task with all the overview information.

Haha sorry for the novel - I tend to get a bit wordy trying to explain things but I hope that makes sense. Thanks for the helpful advice! I’d be interested if you had any other thoughts/suggestions and hopefully some subtask updates are on the product roadmap. :slight_smile: All in all its been a really helpful tool for us!

Thanks!
Jules

This topic is several years old but was this ever implemented?

I know this is an old thread but can we make this a product feedback post? Would be great for sub-tasks to inherit the parent task descripton by default (rather than blank by default). You can always edit/delete the descripton, but providing some info rather than no info seems way more valuable and would be a big time-saver.

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Hi @Alexis! This is an older thread but the question has come up again in our org and I am wondering if there have been any recent product updates to address this request or if it is on the roadmap?

Thank you!
Stephanie

Hello . It would be really useful to be able to track the parent task from the subtask. I’m relatively new to Asana and s I have a subtask telling me to add an event to our events calendar once the date is known but nothing to tell me what event because I can’t link it to a parent task without trawling through lots of sections within a project. I now know that I have to give myself more information but some kind of link would be helpful. That little ‘see parent’ icon in the ‘task visibility’ column is very tantalising and is crying out for a link back to the parent.