Dependency mapping is a project management tool that helps organizations understand the internal structure of their systems and processes. A dependency map visually displays the individual factors involved in a process and how they relate to one another to illuminate the discovery of how the functioning of factors contributes to the success—or failure—of the whole.

Dependencies can be people—team members, contractors, investors—but they can also be deliverables: an update to software an aspect of branding approved by legal, a new logo. These factors might also be external, like a broken link in the supply chain or a piece of legislation that impacts your product’s viability. By mapping out every possible dependency, you can plan for every possible outcome and mitigate problems before they appear.

To create a project management dependency map, tap into FigJam’s free customizable examples. Then, identify the factors that comprise the process or project you’re mapping. These can include team dependencies, project dependencies, and external dependencies.

For a complete picture of the relationships that inform your system, bring your whole team to the table. Discuss your processes in detail, brainstorming about potential risks and hidden dependencies. Then, talk about potential risks. What happens if one factor fails or a relationship breaks down? Play out the different scenarios and discuss strategies for managing challenging outcomes.

Once you have a complete sense of all the moments and players involved in your project or process, put it down on paper—or rather, on a shared digital canvas. With FigJam, it’s simple to create your visualization and easy to refer back to it at any time in case any factor falls short and you need to fill a gap.

While the number of dependencies can increase with complexity, every project has dependencies. Some common examples of these causal relationships include:

- Team dependencies – These dependencies relate to the links between humans that drive or inhibit project progress. Examples include a key employee taking leave before a major shipment or a new hire shifting internal organization.

- Cross-project dependencies – A cross-project dependency refers to tasks that depend on one another, like a piece of copy that can’t be written until a product formulation has been finalized.

- External dependencies – External dependencies involve factors that exist outside of your org but still impact your internal systems, like changes in government regulations, supply chain issues, and power outages.