Our dependency dates keep changing. How do we protect the project?
Volatile external readinessTrack the supplying team's evidence-based forecast and assess the effect of each change. Develop feasible alternatives where possible and escalate when the dependency cannot support the required outcome.
What to do now
- Validate the current readiness evidence
- Model downstream effects
- Identify alternative sequencing or supply
- Obtain a decision on the remaining exposure
When to escalate
Escalate when
Repeated changes remove credible recovery options.
Who decides
The accountable integration or dependency owner
Example
A team advances independent preparation while escalating an unstable environment delivery date.
Mistake to avoid
Moving your own milestone repeatedly without explaining the cause and decision.
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
- Our project depends on an external approval date we cannot control. What should we do?External decision uncertainty
- Another team says our dependency is not their priority. What should we do?Unagreed external dependency
- We keep changing the baseline to hide variance. How should rebaselining work?Baseline manipulation
- Our expected benefit depends on another department changing its process. What should we do?Unowned benefit dependency