---
name: dependency-map
description: >
  Cross-team dependency tracking with critical path analysis and Mermaid
  dependency graphs for program coordination.
license: MIT + Commons Clause
metadata:
  version: 1.0.0
  author: borghei
  category: project-management
  domain: pm-execution
  updated: 2026-05-21
  python-tools: dependency_graph.py
  tech-stack: dependencies, critical-path, dsm, conway, mermaid
---
# Cross-Team Dependency Map

## Overview

Dependency tracking for multi-team initiatives: who is blocking whom, what is on the critical path, what is at risk, and what to coordinate this week. The output is a Mermaid dependency diagram, a critical-path list, a risk-ordered blocker list, and a weekly cross-team sync agenda -- all generated from a single JSON file you maintain instead of a sprawling spreadsheet.

Most cross-team programs fail at dependency management, not execution. The teams individually do good work; the gaps are at the seams. This skill makes those seams visible, prioritizes them by criticality, and produces the communication artifacts that keep them visible week over week. The underlying model uses the Critical Path Method (CPM, Kelley and Walker, 1959) for sequencing, optional DSM (Design Structure Matrix) thinking for cluster identification, and Conway's Law (Conway, 1968) framing for the organizational source of recurring dependency patterns.

The Python tool ingests a dependency JSON (team A blocks team B on date X, with expected resolution date Y) and emits all outputs in the six standard PM formats per `SHARED_OUTPUT_SCHEMA.md`. The Mermaid `graph LR` rendering is ready to drop into a README, Notion page, or Confluence page.

### When to Use

- **Multi-team feature** -- A feature requires platform, mobile, and data teams to coordinate.
- **Program management** -- Tracking 5-20 dependent workstreams across a quarter (see `program-manager/`).
- **Release coordination** -- A launch depends on legal review + DevOps capacity + design assets all converging.
- **Quarterly planning** -- Identifying which dependencies threaten quarterly OKR commitments.
- **Org-design diagnosis** -- Recurring dependencies between the same two teams may signal a structural problem (Conway's Law).

### When NOT to Use

- Single-team backlogs (use `wwas/` or `job-stories/`; intra-team dependencies are normal sequencing).
- Pure technical dependencies inside one codebase (use Git, not a dependency map).
- Stakeholder relationships (use `senior-pm/stakeholder_mapper.py`).

## The Dependency Model

A **dependency** has six attributes:

| Field | Required | Notes |
|-------|:--------:|-------|
| `id` | Yes | Stable identifier (e.g., `DEP-014`) |
| `from_team` | Yes | The team that NEEDS the work (the consumer/blocked party) |
| `to_team` | Yes | The team that OWES the work (the producer/blocker) |
| `description` | Yes | One sentence: what is needed |
| `needed_by` | Yes | ISO date when the consumer needs it |
| `expected_delivery` | Yes | ISO date when the producer expects to deliver |
| `status` | Yes | `not_started` / `in_progress` / `at_risk` / `blocked` / `done` |
| `criticality` | Optional | `critical` / `high` / `medium` / `low` (default `medium`) |
| `notes` | Optional | Free text context, links, decisions |

### Slack and Risk

For each dependency:

- **Slack** = `expected_delivery - needed_by`. Negative slack = the dependency is late or will be.
- **Risk** is derived from `status` and `slack`:
    - `done`: no risk
    - `blocked`: highest risk (work has stopped)
    - `at_risk` or `slack < 0`: high risk
    - `in_progress` with positive slack: medium
    - `not_started` more than 14 days before `needed_by`: low
    - `not_started` within 14 days of `needed_by`: high

### Critical Path

The **critical path** is the longest dependency chain through the program -- the sequence whose total duration determines the earliest possible completion. Any delay on the critical path delays the entire program. Any delay off it does not (until it consumes the slack and becomes critical).

This tool computes the critical path by building a directed graph from dependencies, ordering by `needed_by` dates, and identifying the chain of nodes with zero slack. The output lists the critical chain plus its near-critical sibling chains (slack < 7 days).

## Conway's Law and Recurring Dependencies

Melvin Conway, 1968: "Organizations which design systems are constrained to produce designs which are copies of the communication structures of these organizations."

Practical consequence for dependency mapping: if you find the same two teams generating dependencies every quarter, the org structure is the dependency. Three responses, in order of preference:

1. **Merge the teams** if the volume of dependencies justifies it.
2. **Create a permanent interface** (API contract, service-level agreement, scheduled sync) that reduces ad-hoc coordination.
3. **Add a permanent program manager** for the seam (see `program-manager/`).

## Workflow

1. **Inventory dependencies.** With each team's lead, list every cross-team need for the planning period. One sentence per dependency. Date both `needed_by` and `expected_delivery`.
2. **Populate the JSON.** Use the schema in `assets/dependency-template.json`.
3. **Run the analyzer.** `python scripts/dependency_graph.py --input deps.json --format markdown` for the full report.
4. **Generate the Mermaid graph.** `--format mermaid` -- paste into README, Notion, Confluence.
5. **Identify the critical path.** Review the critical path list. Every item on it gets a named owner and weekly status.
6. **Run the weekly sync.** Use `assets/weekly-sync-agenda.md`. Walk the critical path, then the at-risk items, then anything newly added.
7. **Update the JSON after every sync.** The map is only useful if it reflects current state. Stale maps are worse than no map.
8. **Quarterly review.** Look at recurring dependencies between the same two teams. If volume is high, consider Conway's Law responses.

## Tools

| Tool | Purpose | Command |
|------|---------|---------|
| `dependency_graph.py` | Compute critical path, render dependency graph, list risks | `python scripts/dependency_graph.py --input deps.json --format mermaid` |

Demo mode: `python scripts/dependency_graph.py --demo --format markdown` produces sample output without input.

## Troubleshooting

| Symptom | Likely Cause | Resolution |
|---------|--------------|------------|
| Critical path is empty | All dependencies have generous slack (positive `expected_delivery - needed_by`) | Verify dates are realistic; ask teams whether their `expected_delivery` reflects current capacity |
| Same two teams appear in 60% of dependencies | Org structure is the dependency (Conway's Law) | Quarterly review; consider merging teams, adding a permanent interface, or adding a program manager |
| Map goes stale within 2 weeks | No clear update cadence; map lives in nobody's daily routine | Make the JSON the single source of truth; require update before the weekly sync |
| Dependencies modeled at task level become unmaintainable | Granularity too fine; dozens of items per team per sprint | Aggregate at the epic level; only model cross-team blocks, not within-team sequencing |
| Status field always reads `at_risk` for every dep | Teams use it as a generic "this is hard" signal | Define explicit thresholds for `at_risk`; require dates to back the label |
| Mermaid diagram unreadable with 30+ nodes | Too many dependencies on one diagram | Filter by criticality (`--criticality critical,high`) or by team |
| Critical-path item has no named owner | Owner field optional and skipped | Make the weekly sync require an owner for every critical-path dependency |

## Success Criteria

- Every cross-team dependency is captured in the JSON with all required fields.
- A weekly cross-team sync walks the critical path and at-risk dependencies.
- Mermaid dependency diagram is published in a shared location and updated weekly.
- Every critical-path dependency has a named owner and a weekly status.
- Recurring dependencies are reviewed quarterly for Conway's Law responses.
- The dependency JSON is the single source of truth; spreadsheets and side documents are retired.
- Map is updated before, not after, the weekly sync.

## Scope & Limitations

**In Scope:**
- Cross-team dependency capture and visualization
- Critical Path Method (CPM) analysis
- Risk-ordered blocker list
- Mermaid `graph LR` rendering
- Conway's Law-aware quarterly review
- All six formats per `SHARED_OUTPUT_SCHEMA.md`

**Out of Scope:**
- Resource capacity planning (use `senior-pm/resource_capacity_planner.py`)
- Stakeholder mapping (use `senior-pm/stakeholder_mapper.py`)
- Sprint-level backlog ordering (use `prioritization-frameworks/`)
- Detailed Gantt charting (use a dedicated PM tool for visuals beyond critical path)
- Risk register beyond dependency blockers (use `pre-mortem/`)

**Important Caveats:**
- Dependency maps degrade fast without weekly updates. A 2-week-old map is misleading; a 4-week-old map is harmful.
- The critical path identifies the *currently longest* chain. Adding a single new dependency can shift it. Re-run on every change.
- This skill does not replace conversation. It surfaces what to talk about; the talking still has to happen.

## Integration Points

| Integration | Direction | What Flows |
|-------------|-----------|------------|
| `program-manager/` | Used by | Program managers maintain the dependency JSON across teams |
| `senior-pm/` | Feeds into | Critical-path risks flow into portfolio risk reporting |
| `senior-pm/risk_matrix_analyzer.py` | Complementary | Dependency risks plot alongside other program risks |
| `pre-mortem/` | Complementary | Pre-mortem-identified "tigers" often map to specific dependencies |
| `cycle-time-analyzer/` | Complementary | Long cycle times often correlate with cross-team blocks |
| `launch-playbook/` | Feeds into | Launch RACI references the dependency map for cross-team owners |
| `status-update-generator/` | Feeds into | Weekly status pulls critical-path summary |
| `summarize-meeting/` | Feeds into | Weekly sync notes become structured summaries |

## Tool Reference

### dependency_graph.py

Computes critical path, lists risks, and renders the dependency graph from a JSON file of cross-team dependencies.

| Flag | Type | Default | Description |
|------|------|---------|-------------|
| `--input` | path | (required unless `--demo`) | JSON file with dependencies |
| `--demo` | flag | off | Use built-in demo data |
| `--format` | string | `markdown` | One of `json`, `markdown`, `mermaid`, `confluence`, `notion`, `linear` |
| `--output` | path | stdout | Output file path |
| `--criticality` | string | (all) | Comma-separated filter: `critical,high,medium,low` |
| `--team` | string (repeatable) | (none) | Filter to dependencies involving these team names |
| `--as-of` | ISO date | today | Reference date for slack and risk calculations |

### Input JSON schema

```json
{
  "program": "Q3 Mobile Launch",
  "dependencies": [
    {
      "id": "DEP-001",
      "from_team": "Mobile",
      "to_team": "Platform",
      "description": "OAuth refresh token rotation API",
      "needed_by": "2026-06-15",
      "expected_delivery": "2026-06-10",
      "status": "in_progress",
      "criticality": "critical",
      "owner": "Alex Lee",
      "notes": "Blocking iOS auth refactor"
    }
  ]
}
```

### Output JSON schema (envelope per `SHARED_OUTPUT_SCHEMA.md`)

```json
{
  "schema": "pm/dependency-map/v1",
  "generated_at": "2026-05-21T00:00:00Z",
  "data": {
    "program": "Q3 Mobile Launch",
    "as_of": "2026-05-21",
    "summary": {
      "total_dependencies": 12,
      "done": 3, "blocked": 1, "at_risk": 2,
      "critical_path_length": 5
    },
    "critical_path": [ { "id": "DEP-001", "from_team": "...", "to_team": "...", "slack_days": 0 } ],
    "at_risk": [ ... ],
    "by_team_pair": [ { "from_team": "...", "to_team": "...", "count": 4 } ],
    "all_dependencies": [ ... ]
  }
}
```

## References

- `references/dependency-management-guide.md` -- CPM walkthrough, DSM intro, Conway's Law applied, recurring-dependency diagnosis.
- `assets/dependency-template.json` -- Starter JSON file with the full schema and one worked example per status.
- `assets/weekly-sync-agenda.md` -- Standard agenda for the cross-team weekly sync.
- Kelley, James E., and Morgan R. Walker. "Critical-Path Planning and Scheduling." Eastern Joint IRE-AIEE-ACM Computer Conference, 1959.
- Conway, Melvin E. "How Do Committees Invent?" Datamation, 1968.
- Steward, Donald V. "The Design Structure System: A Method for Managing the Design of Complex Systems." IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 1981.