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Aha! Develop | Create dependencies from a whiteboard

Tracking relationships between work items is critical to successful product delivery. It is common for a feature or release to impact, block, or depend on another item. And when you have multiple teams working together, tracking these relationships becomes even more important. You can create these relationships from an Aha! record's Related tab. But when you are planning on a whiteboard, you might want to create them in the moment (rather than going back to add them later). Use connector lines on your whiteboard to create dependencies between two records. This helps you track related work as you fine-tune your delivery plans with the team.

a Program board on a whiteboard with many record cards. One of the connector lines is selected and the create dependency icon is highlighted on the toolbar

To create a dependency between two records on your whiteboard:

  • Draw a line and connect its ends to the two records you want to link with a dependency relationship.

    Select multiple lines to create many dependencies at once. (When you do, all dependencies must be the same relationship type.)

  • On the connector's toolbar, select the Create dependency option.

  • Choose a relationship type from the dropdown.

  • Click Create dependency.

    a whiteboard with many record cards on it and the Create dependency window open to add a depends on relationship between records
  • Select the relationship type. You can choose from Blocks, is blocked by, Depends on, Is a dependency of, Impacts, or is impacted by. After you have made your selection, click Create dependency.

After you create a dependency between two records, they will be linked. You can view their relationship on both records' Related tabs anywhere you can open the records in Aha! Roadmaps. This relationship will also display on dependency reports.

There are several things you should understand about creating and changing dependencies on whiteboards:

  • You can only remove an existing dependency from a record's Related tab, regardless of where it originated.

  • Deleting a dependency line on a whiteboard will not remove the dependency relationship between records. The link between the two records will remain until you remove it from the drawer view on one of the records.

  • Removing a dependency link between two records from its drawer view (or from anywhere outside your whiteboard) will not remove the dependency line from your whiteboard. To remove it, refresh dependency lines from the whiteboard's More options menu.

  • Disconnecting a dependency line from one record card and connecting it to another will not change the existing relationship between the original two records.

Open your whiteboard's More options menu and click Show or Remove dependency lines to reveal or hide existing links between records. Choose Refresh dependency lines to see the latest relationships.

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