Practice : Risk and Dependency Maps

Purpose and Strategic Importance

Risk and Dependency Maps make the invisible visible. They help teams identify, track, and actively manage potential blockers or systemic risks that could delay delivery or compromise quality.

By visualising inter-team dependencies and systemic risks, teams can better coordinate, plan proactively, and engage stakeholders early. This improves resilience, reduces delivery surprises, and supports better decisions across the whole system.

Description of the Practice

  • Teams maintain lightweight, visible maps of delivery risks and external dependencies.
  • Dependencies include upstream and downstream relationships, shared components, or external approvals.
  • Risks include technical, organisational, or delivery uncertainties that could impact value flow.
  • Items are tagged, prioritised, and reviewed regularly for mitigation planning.
  • Ownership for each item is made explicit and tracked to closure.

How to Practise It (Playbook)

1. Getting Started

  • Identify common sources of delay or fragility in your delivery process.
  • Use a simple format (e.g. matrix, mind map, sticky wall, or digital board) to capture dependencies and risks.
  • Introduce regular reviews (e.g. weekly syncs, planning sessions) to update and assess.

2. Scaling and Maturing

  • Categorise risks (e.g. technical, process, people, compliance) to aid visibility.
  • Introduce heat maps or RAG status to signal urgency and impact.
  • Link risks and dependencies to specific backlog items or goals.
  • Encourage cross-team collaboration for resolving shared risks.

3. Team Behaviours to Encourage

  • Call out new risks or blockers as they emerge—not just during planning.
  • Treat risk mapping as a shared team responsibility, not just a PM role.
  • Celebrate proactive mitigation and dependency resolution.
  • Reflect on recurring risks in retrospectives and post-mortems.

4. Watch Out For…

  • Overcomplicating risk registers until they become too cumbersome to maintain.
  • Ignoring known risks until they escalate into delivery issues.
  • Assuming dependencies will resolve themselves without active coordination.
  • Stale maps that are not updated as delivery context changes.

5. Signals of Success

  • Risks and dependencies are actively discussed and reviewed each sprint.
  • Teams resolve blockers earlier and coordinate across boundaries effectively.
  • Fewer surprises occur late in the delivery cycle.
  • Stakeholders feel informed about delivery risks without escalation.
  • Teams make trade-offs and plans with better situational awareness.