Video 6 of 10 · 2:40
The Dependencies tab
Read and build the order of the work, and find and fix conflicts. For: Planners
Music: "Deliberate Thought" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0.
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Transcript
The chart
Dependencies is where you plan the order of the work: your Jira "Blocks" links, drawn on a timeline. Each arrow runs from the task that must finish first to the task that waits for it. Point at a task to see its whole chain: everything it waits for, and everything that waits for it. Group the chart by person or by project. Switch between weeks and months; Today brings you back. Grey lines show each person's own order of work: Mermix works it out from their dates; it is not a Jira link.
Linking
To add a link, click the task that must finish first, then the task that waits for it, and press Add Dependency. It is saved to Jira at once, as a Blocks link; there is nothing to push. One task can hold up several: click it, then each task that waits for it, and Add Dependencies saves them all at once. Click an arrow to see both tasks and how they are linked; Remove from Jira takes it away, in Mermix and in Jira.
Conflicts
A red arrow is a conflict: a task planned to start before the work it waits for has finished. The Conflicts button counts them, and lists each one: who does the two tasks, and by how many days they overlap. Show brings both tasks into view on the chart. Fix shows what would move: the waiting task, to its person's first working day after the other ends, and anything after it down the chain. Each task keeps its hours on its person's working days; work only moves later, and finished work never moves. Move it, and the new dates wait for your next push to Jira. Mermix never moves your plan by itself: you decide when to fix.
Finding your way
Filter by projects and people, or show only the tasks with links, or only the conflicts. Search finds a task by its key or its title. List of links shows every link as a table, conflicts first, each with Show and Fix.
Sharing it
Export saves the chart as PDF, SVG or PNG, for the period you choose. Excel gives you the links and the tasks as a workbook. That's the Dependencies tab: the order of the work, and its conflicts, on your terms.