In the past months I have explored way of pushing asana, and I have been working a lot with subtasks. It is great that a subtask can be assigned to multiple projects, as it offers a huge flexibility.
Now, it would be absolutely awesome if a subtasks could be a child of more than one task!
Let me give you a specific example: I use subtasks to keep track of things I have to do for specific events. If the event has one client, then it is simple for me, as client > event > task.
The challenge is if the event has more than one client, or party, involved. It would be ace if I could have this: client1 > eventA > taskX client2 > eventA > taskX
Coming from a nerdy background I understand the implication of inheriting from multiple parents, but it would add a layer of flexibility to asana that would allow people to generate complex and flexible templates at the same time!
Yes, this! It is similar to tasks multihomed to different projects, but this time, a task is multihomed to different parent tasks. We were forced to convert the parent tasks into projects to take advantage of the multihoming capabilities of Asana.
Interesting suggestion, Carlo. Thanks! Yes, I think in the meantime a good option for you is to use Tab+P to add the subtask to multiple projects. Not exactly what you’re looking for, but I think it could help.
I am not sure we are talking about the same thing… I tried to follow your guide, but I was quite lost in the step 3 (Task A is not in Project B, Subtask A is…)
Aren’t you making Task A a subtask of Task B? In that case it would not make Subtask A a subtask of both, but just Subtask A a “nephew” of Task B…
If I drag the subtask in another task, then I simply change the parent, I do not add a new one.
@Carlo, my mistake! Checked with User Operations and your initial observation was correct – our data model won’t support multiple parent Tasks for subtasks. Teaching me something new today, too I’ll definitely file that feedback to the team!
Definitely second @Carlo and his request for homeing a task as a subtask under multiple parent tasks. Do we know or can someone from Asana say if this is even a possibility given Asana’s data model / structure? Would be a huge leap forward in terms of flexibility. We use Asana to do some pretty neat things that go way beyond basic project management. This would make it go from neat things to amazing things, for sure!
Howdy @Alexis, @Todd_Cavanaugh, etc. Just found this epic thread here on the forum requestion SUBtasks/child tasks to live in multiple different parent tasks (instead of only currently allowing tasks to live in multiple projects. Seems to be the same thing just one level deeper that people want.
Just checking in to see if this was potentially happening?
@Sam_Leahey This is possible right now. The user interface is a little weird in that you can’t see this is an option, but if you use the keyboard shortcut Tab + P it will allow you to add a subtask to multiple tasks in whatever projects you want.
This workaround could also allow someone to use custom fields with subtasks.
@Todd_Cavanaugh Hmm. I’m trying that but it only pulls up the “add to project menu”? I’m trying to have a “linked” (meaning it’s not just a duplicate subtask) nested within 2+ DIFFERENT parent tasks in the SAME project. Here’s a screen shot:
As far as I am aware this is not yet possible. While you can have a subtask being part of more than one project, multiple inheritance between tasks is not possible.
@Todd_Cavanaugh but all that does is delete the subtask from it’s original parent task and just moves it to the new parent task. I’m trying to have a subtask “linked” but living in different parent tasks like we already do for the level above (having different parent tasks linked/living as subtasks of another parent task).
I wish I had a video to show you exactly what I’m talking about but the screen shot I posted above is pretty much it!
When I do what you described it simply just moves the original subtask OUT of that parent task and into the new parent tasks I drag/dropped it into.
Well, I tried it out and @Carlo is right…can’t have a subtask in more than 1 task. You can have a subtask live as a task in more than 1 project, but it can only have 1 task parent. I think you’re stuck assigning a key result to the objective it most fits with.
