4 Ways to Unblock Project Dependencies

Bart has been in ecommerce for over 20 years, and can't imagine a better job to have. He is interested in all things agile, or anything new to learn.

  Leadership   Risk Management   Strategy  

In modern project management, it’s rare to be able to do a project of any meaningful size without taking dependencies on other teams. This can be frustrating to the project team, as it means ultimate control of delivery doesn’t reside within the project, and can be blocked or obstructed by a different team (or even a separate organization entirely).

Sometimes it can be a disagreement on priorities, or a difference of opinions, or even conflicting or unclear goals and objectives. Whatever the reason, figuring out how to unblock progress is generally within the remit of a project manager, and while it’s rarely easy, it is critical to overall success.

As with most things when running a complicated project, this kind of challenge requires flexible thinking, open communication, and a willingness to be transparent with the goals of the team and the project. It could very well be that the blocking team is correct, and it’s not simply the team being uncooperative or difficult.

A project manager should lead with inquiry and think about how to create a win for everyone, rather than view the interaction as adversarial or a problem that needs to be beaten. In most cases, everyone wants the same thing: to create success. It can be up to the project manager to determine what that looks like.

Relationships matter in project management, and the task of …

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