Most tasks are independent. The few that aren’t deserve a dependency or a milestone — both keep your timeline honest.
Dependencies
A dependency says this task can’t start until that task finishes. Lattica supports two kinds:
- Finish-to-start — the most common. “Deploy” depends on “QA pass.”
- Start-to-start — used when two tasks need to begin together. “Marketing copy” and “Design” both block “Launch announcement.”
To add one, open a task, click + Dependency, and search for the blocker. Or drag a connection between two cards on the timeline view.
What dependencies do
- Highlight blockers. A dependent task shows a small red dot and the title of its blocker until the blocker is Done.
- Cascade due-date changes. If you push back the blocker, Lattica offers to push dependents by the same amount.
- Show the critical path. Timeline view highlights the chain of dependencies that drives your end date.
Milestones
A milestone is a task with no duration — just a date. Use them for hard deadlines: launch days, conference talks, contract delivery dates. Milestones show as diamonds on the timeline and as a separate row on dashboards.
The convention most teams use: prefix milestone titles with 🎯 or ★ so they’re scannable in lists. Example: ★ v2.4 ships.
Avoid dependency chains longer than 3-4 deep
If you find yourself building a chain of seven dependencies, that’s a sign the work should be a single project with sections, not a pile of dependent tasks. Long chains are fragile — one slip rolls the whole thing.
Circular dependencies
Lattica refuses to save a circular chain. If A blocks B and B blocks C, you can’t make C block A. The error message tells you which existing dependency is the conflict.