What is a Dependency Chain and how to configure it?
A Dependency Chain is when Team A [i.e. Blocked Team] shares a Dependency with another team [Team B the Enabling Team] to coordinate work that needs to be completed in order for Team A to deliver a Feature they have planned. In this scenario the following happens:
Team A, owns the Feature, they create and share a Dependency sticky note with another [Enabling] team, Team B. The Dependency sticky note is linked to the Feature sticky note that Team A has committed to deliver in this PI.
Team B [Enabling Team] receives the Dependency sticky note, and when they accept the dependency, they create the relevant backlog [Work Item] sticky notes and link them to the Dependency. Note: Team B has full autonomy and agency about the number of child work items/stickies they need to create and plan in order to resolve the dependency.
This Dependency sticky note may also be mirrored to the ART or Solution Planning Boards for stakeholder visibility.
Note: In piplanning.io we have now indirectly communicated and coordinated work items that are related to the Feature, via a Dependency sticky note. We refer to this as a Dependency Chain.
The Dependency Chain toggle on the #10 Links tab now allows you to automatically sync a link between the parent Feature work item sticky and child User Story work sticky notes, to the connected ALM tool, using the Dependency Chain as a tunnel.
How to configure Dependency Chains in the PI Session
Open the RTE Cockpit > navigate to the PI Session > tab #10 Links
Toggle on the Automatically link dependency chains setting on the #10 Links tab
Now those sticky notes linked to the Dependency sticky note by the Enabling Team, will automatically be linked to the sticky note the Blocked Team linked to the Dependency.
Important: In order for a link to be created in the respective ALM Tool, the appropriate parent/child Links on tab #10 Links must be configured.
This is an optional setting.