Manage dependencies

What are dependencies ?

A dependency shows the relationship among activities and specifies which order it will have to get executed. Dependencies are involved in decision-making, planning, and the development process, and Dependencies directly impact the development process of a product.

E.g.

• Finish-to-start : This dependency is very common and shows relation between two tasks. The first task has to be completed before another task.
• Start-to-start : Here the parent task has to start before the dependent task.
• Finish-to-finish: The child task will always finish after the parent task. The start of child class does not depend on the parent's task.
• Start-to-finish : In this dependency the child task can’t finish until the parent task gets started.

How to manage dependencies

Dependencies are not problematic, but they require a focused approach to reduce the chances of risk in a product. As the product gets updated in functions and features, it naturally gets increased in complexity also. In project management, first, you have to identify all the dependencies used in the project and manage them. Also, you have to make an error record and try to reduce it with the help of dependencies. To manage dependencies, we have to do the following activities.

• Common understanding of dependencies
• Plans to manage dependencies
• Identification of dependencies
• Validation of errors and complexities
• Continuous management