<p>Because this link has direction from one side to another. Only one work item can on the start of this direction. However, work item:</p>

<ol>
<li>Can has many successor</li>
<li>Can has many predecessor.</li>
</ol>

<p>This type of link can not create the cycle, like:</p>

<ol>
<li>Wi1 successor to WI2</li>
<li>Wi2 successor to WI1</li>
</ol>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-06-17T14:31:58.193Z
2020-06-17T14:31:58.193Z
Shamrai Aleksander
<p>The TFS task tracker only supports 1-to-many Predecessor/Successor relationships (<a href="https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/boards/queries/link-type-reference?toc=%2Fazure%2Fdevops%2Fboards%2Ftoc.json&amp;bc=%2Fazure%2Fdevops%2Fboards%2Fbreadcrumb%2Ftoc.json%20toc.json&amp;view=azure-devops" rel="nofollow noreferrer">docs</a>).</p>

<p>I totally do not understand why is so.</p>

<p>For me it's obviously a many-to-many relationship, since a task may be blocked by more than one predecessor tasks.</p>

<p>This is the first and only time I've seen such a restriction in such a tracker (for instance, Meistertask supports many-to-many).</p>

<p>Since I can't think of any technical problem to do that (it should be trivial), I'm pretty sure there is a real reason for that. I'd just like to know that reason: I guess it's public, but I couldn't find it.</p>

<p><strong>Note: this is not a rant</strong>. This is <strong>a very specific question</strong>, that may very well have a known answer (although it's possible it doesn't). If you think this is a rant either you misread it, or I miswrote it, or a combination of both.</p>

<tfs>
Why does TFS only support 1-to-many Predecessor /Successor relationships?
lhpcw
# Why does TFS only support 1-to-many Predecessor /Successor relationships?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-05-19)

The TFS task tracker only supports 1-to-many Predecessor/Successor relationships ([docs](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/boards/queries/link-type-reference?toc=%2Fazure%2Fdevops%2Fboards%2Ftoc.json&bc=%2Fazure%2Fdevops%2Fboards%2Fbreadcrumb%2Ftoc.json%20toc.json&view=azure-devops)).

I totally do not understand why is so.

For me it's obviously a many-to-many relationship, since a task may be blocked by more than one predecessor tasks.

This is the first and only time I've seen such a restriction in such a tracker (for instance, Meistertask supports many-to-many).

Since I can't think of any technical problem to do that (it should be trivial), I'm pretty sure there is a real reason for that. I'd just like to know that reason: I guess it's public, but I couldn't find it.

**Note: this is not a rant**. This is **a very specific question**, that may very well have a known answer (although it's possible it doesn't). If you think this is a rant either you misread it, or I miswrote it, or a combination of both.

**Tags:** tfs


---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2020-06-17. Score: 1

Because this link has direction from one side to another. Only one work item can on the start of this direction. However, work item:

1. Can has many successor
2. Can has many predecessor.

This type of link can not create the cycle, like:

1. Wi1 successor to WI2
2. Wi2 successor to WI1


---

