I work for a company that seems to have a lot going on. Matter of fact, there's so much going on, that my task list is a bit big. Then, I realized that one task can't move forward unless the other task is complete.

For example, I had to deal with the task of understanding how the phone system works so I can reorganize it. But before I can do that, I have to make sure that the phone numbers were ported in. Otherwise, after the numbers are ported, it may ruin what I'm trying to do with the others.

So, how do I solve the problems of turning tasks into projects?

I call this the "Floodgate" Technique.

First, I make tags for work so I can sort them easier (#work). Then, I attached another tag to the tasks (#work-phones). Afterwards, I would then use the priority settings and set the most important task the highest one (#1) to alert me that unless this task is done first, the others are not possible.

I would use SmartList to organize the tags from Work and see the "Work-Phones" tag. Then, with the task at the top, I know I can't complete the others until I complete the top one first, saving time and energy on deciding what to do.

Then after the top task is finally complete, I would adjust the others accordingly.