diff --git a/libdaggy/src/executors/task/ForkingTaskExecutor.cpp b/libdaggy/src/executors/task/ForkingTaskExecutor.cpp
index 469693b..6a403a1 100644
--- a/libdaggy/src/executors/task/ForkingTaskExecutor.cpp
+++ b/libdaggy/src/executors/task/ForkingTaskExecutor.cpp
@@ -95,9 +95,10 @@ TaskFuture ForkingTaskExecutor::execute(DAGRunID runID,
                                         const Task &task)
 {
   std::string key = std::to_string(runID) + "_" + taskName;
-  std::lock_guard<std::mutex> lock(taskControlsGuard_);
+  std::unique_lock<std::mutex> lock(taskControlsGuard_);
   auto [it, ins] = taskControls_.emplace(key, true);
-  auto &running  = it->second;
+  lock.unlock();
+  auto &running = it->second;
   return tp_.addTask([this, task, taskName, &running, key]() {
     auto ret = this->runTask(task, running);
     std::lock_guard<std::mutex> lock(this->taskControlsGuard_);