Dependency Breakers

Dependency Breakers

What does it mean to be truly autonomous? Can agile teams really “break dependencies”?

Purpose

A dependency describes the relationship between all things in our (working) lives. We cannot function without dependencies. The issue is that some of the dependencies are things and situations that prevent Crews from discovering or delivering value to users and customers. Dependency Breakers can help you mitigate the impact of those dependencies.

Notes

Dependencies are not necessarily bad. Actually, there are many good reasons for people to depend on each other. But you have a problem when those dependencies result in value that is not able to flow.

Rules / Constraints

  • We have not yet defined any rules or constraints.

Attend
Automate
Block
Contain
Coordinate
Decouple
Flag
Formalize
Measure
Prioritize
Redesign
Reteam
Rotate
Self-service
Standardize
Swarm
Throttle
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Featured
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Breaking Bad Dependencies (Not Good Ones)
Breaking Bad Dependencies (Not Good Ones)

The idea of end-to-end responsibility is that nothing is blocked in this value stream. But autonomy is an illusion, and it’s impossible to break all dependencies. The problem is that many dependencies are not valuable.

“We have broken the cycle of dependency. People have found out they're better off working.”

(Source: John Engler)