Dependency Mapping

Make every cross-team and external dependency visible, owned, and dated — and surface the ones that threaten the timeline.

When to use

• Coordinating delivery that spans multiple teams or vendors.
• Diagnosing what's blocking progress or building a dependency view for a plan/review.

Inputs to gather

• The deliverables/milestones and their target dates.
• For each: what's needed from another team/vendor, and what others need from you.
• Known owners on both sides and any commitments already made.

Process

1. List dependencies as directional edges: A needs X from B by date D.
2. For each, capture: provider, consumer, what, needed-by date, provider's committed date, status, and owner.
3. Flag a dependency at risk when there's no committed date, the committed date is after needed-by, or the owner is unconfirmed.
4. Identify the critical path — the chain of dependencies that, if any slips, slips the whole project.
5. Note circular/mutual dependencies and sequencing conflicts explicitly.
6. Recommend actions: confirm owners, get commitments, decouple where possible, add buffer.

Output format

## Dependency Map — {{project}}

| ID | What | Provider → Consumer | Needed by | Committed | Status | Owner | At risk? |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |

### Critical path
{{ordered chain with dates}}

### At-risk dependencies & recommended actions
- {{dependency}} — {{why at risk}} → {{action, owner, by when}}

If a visual helps, offer a simple text/Mermaid dependency diagram.