Hi guys,

I have a question, that maybe someone with more GTD experience can answer. Here's the problem that I have that seems to occur with some mild frequency. I'll try and explain my issue, suggest a weird hybrid solution, and see what you guys think.

Essentially, what I find is that I often have tasks which are important to be accomplished before other tasks are accomplished. They are linked up, perhaps even across various "projects" in the kGTD type thought. One obviously needs to come before the other, they are not really subprojects of each other, but they are say, "siblings". But, they are linked siblings.

I tend to often think about tasks in a semi-Gantt type view. At least, I find it *sometimes* helps to think about larger projects in this mode, as it tells me what is holding up the rest of the ball-game, and what can be worked on without waiting around for other things to be done. BUT- I often find that the Gantt view is pretty crazy for full implementation. People rarely use Gantt project views to get things done, unless they've been required to use them, perhaps to show the course of events to "completion" for those higher-up (at least that's my guess- that's been one of the few uses I've had for Gaant views).

What I'm finding however, is some interest in a Semi-Gaant like view *inside* my GTD lists. Something like drawing a line down the page connecting the two tasks which are related to each other, and a number beside them indicating their order of importance. I have not implemented this at all yet. But, something like a visual indication of first and second related tasks would be useful for me.

The only way I can think of showing a relationship like this in kGTD is to make one task the child of the other task... or perhaps small sub-projects, that type of thing encompassing two tasks which are siblings. Is this the GTD way to think about it? What would David Allen say about these types of related tasks? To me the sub-projects look like they may become a bit schizophrenic... do we really need projects subprojects etc.? Wouldn't it be a bit easier to just have lines connecting up siblings and have them placed side by side in the lists in the proper order?

Any and all thoughts on how you handle sibling tasks which are dependent on each other in your to do lists are greatly appreciated!!

Cheers!
-Allen

ps- for those who don't know what the heck I mean when I talk about Gaant, here's a sample: Gantt Chart on Wikipedia

pps- some of this is motivated by my super-long lists which are getting to be a bit out of hand. There must be a bit better way of visualizing related and dependent tasks than just the next item on the list. I often find this is one of the weak points in my system... the recognition or visualization of the critical and dependent tasks and their subsequent relationship to next action.