[DRAFT] Automated cross-program dependency mapping

[widal001]

Summary

Project stakeholders can reference an auto-generated diagram that maps the dependencies between deliverables (and potentially epics) in the SimplerGrants roadmap.

Press release

(Internal Slack message)

Hey all,

We’re excited to announce a new way of tracking dependencies amongst deliverables and epics that helps us better understand the relationships between items in our roadmap and prioritize the order in which we tackle them.

Often, on complex projects like the SimplerGrants initiative, it can be difficult to keep track of the dependencies between various workstreams. Even if the team manages to document those dependencies it can be just as hard to visualize them in a way that helps inform planning and prioritization.

To help solve this problem, we recently built a tool that takes links between GitHub issues with the “Deliverable” and “Epic” types and uses them to generate a dependency graph. Ideally this graph will highlight planning bottlenecks and help us identify the critical path for delivery.

Acceptance criteria

• Dependency graph: A dependency graph of deliverables and epics in the SimplerGrants roadmap can be auto-generated using metadata from GitHub issues.
• Documentation: Guidance on how to document dependencies so that they are detected by the auto-generator has been published in our public wiki.

Metrics

• Coverage: 100% of deliverables in GitHub have added dependencies to the “Dependencies” section or explicitly marked that section as N/A.
• Automation: A new dependency graph can be generated in less than 2 minutes.

Related goals

Developing product strategy

• Tracking dependencies across deliverables makes it easier to “[break] work down into small chunks to deliver minimum viable products that test the riskiest assumptions of the work.”
• Automating the creation of dependency diagrams aligns with the goal of “developing automated tools that assist in tracking project performance and success, such as linters, reporting infrastructure, [etc.]”

Assumptions and dependencies

• Assumptions
  • Assumes that the product team will have the time to document dependencies between deliverables (and possibly epics) while also planning the work that goes into delivering those items.
  • Assumes that project stakeholders will find value in being able to visualize dependencies across the program.
  • Assumes that dependencies between items in our roadmap are linear enough that a visual dependency map will be useful and will help us conduct a meaningful critical path analysis.
• Dependencies
  • Cross-program product strategy: Depends on having deliverables and epics captured as GitHub issues with a consistent structure.

Additional information

N/A