Private task dependency blocking a task can be removed by collaborators on the blocked task even though they aren't on the blocking task

English Forum Product Feedback
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I ran into a situation where I was the owner of a task (Task A), and I had a single collaborator on the task. I created a separate task (Task B) for myself (not in any project; simply in my My Tasks) as a reminder to do something before I completed Task A. The collaborator on Task A could see that it was blocked by a task but they couldn’t see any details. The collaborator on Task A was able to remove Task B from blocking Task A. Should that be the case if the collaborator doesn’t have access to Task B? In other words, didn’t the collaborator change Task B by removing it from blocking Task A, even though the collaborator doesn’t have permission to edit Task B?

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Hi @Will-Reade-LH ,

I think this is an excellent question. Maybe our @Forum-team can pass it on to the product team?

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@Will-Reade-LH – that is expected behavior because, in Asana, collaborators on tasks aren’t restricted from performing functions on tasks, meaning they can edit all custom fields, dependencies, due dates, etc.

When I have something I need to do before another task is complete and it’s a “me only” task I create a follow-up task within my tasks to make sure that I have the reminder. This doesn’t block someone else from completing the task, but it does create a relationship between the tasks so that it makes them both easy for you to access.

I know this doesn’t solve the issue with dependencies, but I wanted to provide you with an alternative option that doesn’t allow someone else to remove the relationship.

Christine

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I think the question remains relevant as in this case the dependency is also a property of a task that the collaborators haven’t been given access to, so shouldn’t be able to edit.

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Of course, and I would love to see it be addressed. As I mentioned before, I know it doesn’t solve the issue entirely, but since it’s been a challenge for a long time, I just wanted to offer an alternative solution in the meantime.

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I added the word “dependency” to the title to clarify that the dependent task couldn’t be removed, just the dependency.

I can’t think of a better, more consistent behavior in this area than the one Asana chose–if you have access to edit a task you have access to edit whether it’s dependent on other tasks.

Thanks,

Larry

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Hi everyone, thanks for sharing your feedback! This is currently expected behavior but we have passed your comments to our product team and will make sure to share any updates if we plan to make updates to this behavior in the future.

I have moved this thread to our English Forum > Product Feedback category to allow others to upvote too!

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