Two teams each wait for the other to finish. How do we break the loop?
Circular dependencyIdentify the minimum stable information or interface each side needs to proceed. Break the cycle through agreed assumptions, staged delivery, or a small joint experiment with controlled rework risk.
What to do now
- Draw the circular relationship
- Identify minimum usable inputs
- Agree a staged interface or provisional contract
- Test the agreement together
When to escalate
Escalate when
No safe staged approach exists within current commitments.
Who decides
The accountable integration or dependency owner
Example
One team publishes a versioned interface contract while both sides develop and test against it.
Mistake to avoid
Telling both teams to start without resolving incompatible assumptions.
Prevent a repeat
Verify dependency completion with the consuming team and test the integrated outcome early enough to act.
Suggested ApprovedFlow setup
- Tasks
- Documents
- Projects
Keep dependency owners, required evidence and dates with linked work records, confirming supported link behavior in the current build. See the platform
Related cases
- Another team says our dependency is not their priority. What should we do?Unagreed external dependency
- We discovered a dependency late in the project. How do we assess it?Hidden dependency
- Two teams blame each other for an integration failure. How do we resolve it?Blame replacing diagnosis
- Users submit feedback, but never hear what happened. How do we fix that?Open-loop adoption feedback