Run a dependency mapping exercise across teams

Cross-Team Dependencies Fail Silently, Then Loudly

The most common cross-team delivery failure is the unacknowledged dependency — one team assumed another was delivering something they weren't. The Pragmatic Engineer's writing on scaling engineering orgs documents the failure mode: teams operate independently until a milestone reveals they were building against different assumptions. Atlassian's cross-team coordination guidance argues that explicit dependency matrices — updated bi-weekly — reduce cross-team slip rates by 30-50%.

How the Run a dependency mapping exercise across teams Prompt Works

The prompt collects provider and consumer views separately so unacknowledged dependencies surface in the cross-reference step, scores risk using criticality × slack × reversibility, and produces handshake agreements for the top 3 risks. The "unacknowledged dependency" flag is the key output — dependencies known to only one side produce the worst-smelling surprises.

When to Use It

• An initiative spans 3+ teams.
• A recent launch slipped because of a cross-team dependency miss.
• Two teams are building against different assumptions.
• A new PM is owning cross-team coordination for the first time.
• Leadership is asking for a cross-team risk memo.

Common Pitfalls

• Collecting only consumer-side asks. You'll miss the provider side of unacknowledged dependencies.
• No handshake commits. A risk matrix without handshakes is documentation, not coordination.
• Mapping once at kickoff. Dependencies shift. Re-map bi-weekly during the coupling window.

Sources

• The Pragmatic Engineer Newsletter — Gergely Orosz
• Agile Metrics — Atlassian
• The Linear Method — Linear
• Google re:Work — Google