How should I deal with complex tasks that also have complex sub-tasks?

[James Slater]

I've been using Trello (stand-alone) for a couple weeks and  I am trying to use it to develop an implementation plan for a complex, multi-product, multi server, installation.  I started by creating a List for each server with a card for the specific product installed on that server and additional cards for other products that have to be installed  on that server. Every product in the suite has a different set of prerequisites and the order of product installs is important to integrating them together (backend app linkage).  

For each Server install I then have a checklist of the tasks in order that have to be performed to complete the installation. These are things outside the scope of the product installation itself such as installing an OS patch or a 3rd party install; Java JDK, for example. 

What I'm having a difficult time with is that item 7/20 may have a much more complex set of individual steps that need to be performed.   I know I can convert this checklist item into a card, but is there a way I can link it to the card in some way so that it gets processed in the correct order and doesn't get skipped?  Is there some other method that allows me to parent cards in some way so that I could instead use another List or set of cards in place of using a checklist?

[Marta Galofre de Alos]

Hi James,

Thanks so much for your question, that sounds like a really interesting use case!

We currently have a Power-Up that can help to simplify your Trello board with parent/child relationships. It will let you link cards, jump to related cards, and easily track several work streams. It's called Hello Epics, and you can learn more about it here: https://info.trello.com/power-ups/hello-epics

I hope this helps!