The Need for Dependency Sticky Notes
Note: These are not Work Item Sticky Notes. The Dependency sticky type/function is designed to solve for the human-centered activities involved in planning at scale.
During PI Planning and Execution, Teams will need to clearly identify when they rely on another Team to complete their assigned [Feature] work. For example a Team A could be blocked on delivering Feature A, as they require a sub/component, interface, or compute service etc. to be delivered by Team B.
In this scenario Team A is the Blocked Team, and Team B is the Enabling Team. Note: The labels of Blocked Team and Enabling Team are used in the piplanning.io interface and data export utilities.
IMPORTANT
IF cross-Team or cross-ART dependencies are not communicated, visualized, and resolved in real time - at any stage during planning and execution - you create waste in software development by creating scheduling delays, rework, and misalignment on delivery of key objectives.
Dependency management is a dynamic and continuous activity.
Dependencies can be planned, unplanned or they can emerge due to changes in the solution implementation. The way you manage them is the same, but the time sensitivity changes. Be ready to quickly identify and resolve them by making the correct trade-off decisions of time and capacity, with minimal overhead and effortm using piplanning.io.
TL;DR
Create a Dependency sticky note on Blocked Team's Team Boards > share it with the Enabling Team, and optionally mirror the [significant] Dependency to the ART Planning Board (and Solution Planning Boards in Solution Train sessions).
The Dependency Sticky Note life cycle in piplanning.io is designed to solve these scenarios. It does this in the most efficient way using visual management and real time updates on the Team and ART Planning Boards. This greatly reduces the level of coordination, effort and focus an RTE, Product Manager, team lead, or business stakeholder has to give to be alerted of the risky dependencies.
It allows teams to communicate their needs in real time, with full clarity on What is needed, When, and Why. By linking the dependency to the related Feature and assigning it to the Enabling team, expectations are made visible and actionable in real time without the usual delays in coordination and overhead.
This frictionless, high-fidelity flow drives alignment, faster decision-making, and a more mature approach to managing cross-team work.
Think of a Dependency sticky function as metadata to eliminate the overhead when coordinating dependencies between teams. The Dependency sticky note is metadata (not work) to coordinate the following:
1.) What the Blocked Team needs from the Enabling Team: this is the Text on the Sticky Note
2.) Who is assigned the Dependency: this is the Enabling Team that is assigned to the dependency.
3). Why the dependency exists: this is the Feature or User Story (Work Item sticky note) that the Dependency is linked to. The Enabling Team can see this and understand the reason or purpose for the dependency.
When the dependency needs to be resolved by: this is the Iteration the Dependency sticky note is placed in [on the Team Board]
4). Mirror significant Dependencies to ART or Solution Planning Boards for governance.
5). The Red Flag sticker is automatically applied and it can be removed when the Enabling Team resolves the scheduling of the Dependency. RTE's, you only need to scan the ART Planning or Team Boards for Dependencies with Red Flag stickers to make life easier.
Resolving the Dependency Bottleneck
Manage Dependencies across Teams, ARTs and External entities.
Follow the steps below to create, visualize and resolve cross-Team and cross-ART dependencies.
The step-by-step Dependency sticky note breakdown
Create a Dependency Sticky Note on your Team Board in the Iteration [When] you expect the delivery.
Link the Dependency Sticky Note to the related Feature/User Story Work Item sticky note [Why]. The link potentially ensures clear visual context for the Team you share the Dependency with.
Share the Dependency to the Enabling Team [Who].
Use the Depend button on the sticky note Action toolbar or the Enabling team chip directly on the sticky note to share the dependency to the team you're relying on.
Optional: Have a conversation with the Enabling team delivering the dependency on how and when they plan to get the dependency solved.
IMPORTANT: The Enabling team [Who] receives the Dependency in real time. They will then have agency to manage the dependency by planning work item stickies required to resolve it. They use the Team Board to effectively make all the trade-off decisions between capacity and priorities to plan and resolve the dependency.
It is important the work item sticky notes that are created by the Enabling team to resolve the dependency are also linked to the Dependency sticky note because then everyone will be able to visually track the status of the work as it progresses at either the Feature or ART Planning Board during Scrum of Scrums (SoS) or Daily Stand-ups without having to drill into the Enabling teams board.
Once agreed on a plan, Mirror the Dependency Sticky Note on the ART Planning Board
Remove the Red Flag to indicate that both Teams agreed on the Dependency.
Distinct Blocked and Enabling Team Dependency Colors
Easily distinguish Enabling Team and Blocked Team dependencies by the color of a Dependency sticky note. Set different colors if the Dependency is an incoming Dependency or an outgoing Dependency.
Set different colors for Blocked or Enabling Team Dependency Sticky Notes
In the RTE Cockpit, navigate and enter into edit mode on a PI Session
Select tab #3 Team Boards
Expand the Dependency Sticky Note panel
Set a color for the Blocked [Team] sticky note appearance
Set a different color for the Enabling [Team] sticky note appearance
Click Save
Below is a screenshot of the above configuration in the PI Session; How Dependency sticky notes will appear on a team's Team Board depending if they are the Blocked or Enabling Team on the Dependency.
Other helpful Dependency Help Articles
Automatically sync Parent and Child links between work items modeled by a Dependency chains.