Co-create and evolve a coherent system to deal with all dependencies, so that you deliver value fast when dependencies cannot be avoided.

Essential patterns to help you achieve this:

  • Navigate via Tension – Everyone in the organization paying attention to dependencies maximizes the potential for unmanaged dependencies to be identified and responded to.
  • Clarify and Develop Domains – When people understand their own areas of responsibility, and those of others too, they also understand where collaboration on dependencies will be necessary.
  • Visualize Work – Visualizing work items and the dependencies between them makes it easier to manage dependencies in cooperation with the relevant stakeholders.
  • Respond to Organizational Drivers – Understanding why a dependency exists in the first place, and ensuring it is taken care of, is essential for collaborating on managing or resolving dependencies.
  • Involve Those Affected – To address dependencies in an effective way, it often helps to gather the perspectives of all (relevant) stakeholders and involve them in the decision-making process.
  • Linking – Dependencies between two teams can often be addressed effectively by sending a Representative to the decision-making of the other team, to ensure all relevant perspectives are considered and ownership of decisions is shared.
  • Delegate Circle – When teams depend on each other, they can delegate the power to make and evolve agreements relating to specific dependencies to a circle of Representatives, to bring together relevant perspectives and generate ownership among all represented teams.
  • Align Flow – Moving decision-making close to where value is created brings together the people necessary for making decisions in response to specific dependencies and eliminates unnecessary decision-making bottlenecks.
  • Create a Pull-System for Organizational Change – Invite and enable the people affected by dependencies to make changes to organizational structure, to address those dependencies and facilitate the ongoing evolution of a coherent and effective organization.