Systemic Dependency Review

Template Overview

Modern microservices and multi-repository software systems frequently encounter delivery delays when inter-team dependencies remain undocumented. The Systemic Dependency Review template enables multiple technical leads to surface shared API contract modifications, coordinate version updates, and eliminate delivery collisions.

Markdown Template Structure

Copy the block below or click Download .md File to add this template directly to your personal vault:

---
title: "Dependency Review: [Initiative Name] - [Sprint / Quarter]"
date: [YYYY-MM-DD]
facilitator: "[[Technical Program Manager]]"
participating_teams: ["Audio Core", "Storage Team", "UI Renderer", "Security Infra"]
critical_path_risk: "High / Moderate / Low"
tags: [dependencies, system-design, cross-team, agile, architecture]
---

# Systemic Dependency Review — [Initiative Name]

## 1. Critical Path Dependency Map
```mermaid
graph LR
    AudioCore[Audio Core: SCKit Capture] --> Storage[Storage: SQLite FTS5 Engine]
    Storage --> UIRenderer[UI Renderer: Live Preview Table]
    Security[Security: Keychain Store] --> Storage

2. Cross-Team Contract & API Dependency Matrix

Providing Team	Consuming Team	Dependency Deliverable	Target Delivery Date	Breaking Change?	Risk Status
Audio Core	Storage Team	PCM buffer ring stream API	[YYYY-MM-DD]	No	On Track
Storage Team	UI Renderer	FTS5 snippet highlight JSON	[YYYY-MM-DD]	Yes (v2 contract)	At Risk
Security Infra	Storage Team	Database encryption key hook	[YYYY-MM-DD]	No	On Track

3. Discovered Collision Vectors & Breaking Changes

• Breaking Contract: Storage Team is modifying the query result schema to return character offsets instead of line numbers.
  • Impact on UI Renderer: UI Renderer must update syntax decoration spans before merging build candidate.
  • Mitigation Plan: Storage Team will publish backward-compatible API adapter for one intermediate sprint.

4. Immediate Synchronization Directives

• [[Audio Core Lead]] Deliver stubbed interface definitions for PCM buffer streaming by Wednesday.
• [[Storage Lead]] Deploy mock staging endpoints for the updated FTS5 schema to unblock UI team development.
• [[UI Lead]] Validate mock endpoint integration against test markdown documents.

## Filled Real-World Example

Here is a realistic example demonstrating how this template captures actual deliberations:

```markdown
---
title: "Dependency Review: Search & Storage"
date: 2026-10-09
facilitator: "[[Liam O'Connor]]"
participating_teams: ["Storage Engine", "UI Renderer"]
critical_path_risk: "Low"
tags: [dependencies, system-design, cross-team]
---

# Systemic Dependency Review — Search & Storage

## 1. Alignment Overview
Liam O'Connor facilitated the dependency alignment between Storage and UI. Both teams agreed to freeze the SQLite FTS5 query interface to version 2.1 through the upcoming release cycle.

## 2. Agreed Deliverables
The Storage team will deliver the pre-compiled native SQLite extension by Tuesday, allowing UI engineers to benchmark live-preview search results against a 10,000-note vault.

When to Use and When to Avoid

When to Use

• Use bi-weekly across technical leads managing tightly coupled multi-team software architectures.
• Use prior to major API version upgrades or database schema migrations impacting downstream clients.
• Use to identify critical path schedule risks across independent agile teams.

When to Avoid

• Avoid using for internal single-team task planning.
• Avoid using when dependencies are completely decoupled via standard asynchronous message queues.

On-Device AI Integration

Summarize your recording in Oyma with this local instruction:

Analyze the dependency review audio recording:
1. Map all inter-team dependencies, identifying the providing team, consuming team, and target milestone dates.
2. Highlight all proposed breaking API changes and document agreed backward-compatibility mitigation plans.
3. Itemize cross-team action items with owners and delivery deadlines.
Output in clean, structured Markdown.

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