We discovered a dependency late in the project. How do we assess it?
Hidden dependencyIdentify the required input or condition and trace its effect on remaining work. Assess alternatives and update the integrated forecast instead of merely adding another task.
What to do now
- Define the newly discovered dependency
- Identify its owner and earliest readiness
- Trace affected downstream work
- Agree a recovery or revised commitment
When to escalate
Escalate when
The dependency makes an essential milestone infeasible.
Who decides
The accountable integration or dependency owner
Example
A production certificate requirement is discovered before cutover and assessed against issuance lead time.
Mistake to avoid
Adding the dependency without recalculating the delivery path.
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
- How do we define a dependency so it can be managed?Vague dependency record
- Our project depends on an external approval date we cannot control. What should we do?External decision uncertainty
- How do we assess the impact of a change properly?Incomplete change analysis
- Our reports are always a week old. How should we show that?Hidden data freshness