Dependency
A relationship where one team's (or person's) work cannot proceed until another delivers something (data, a component, a decision, their time); the hardest thing to manage on the way to scale, addressed by surfacing early, mapping visibly, and designing out with clear interfaces.
Defined in 3 GAGE programs, which carry 5 distinct definitions of it. The wording above is taught in Certified AI Transformation Professional (CATP).
How each discipline defines it
The same term does different work depending on who is using it. These are the definitions as each program teaches them, unedited.
A relationship where one team's (or person's) work cannot proceed until another delivers something (data, a component, a decision, their time); the hardest thing to manage on the way to scale, addressed by surfacing early, mapping visibly, and designing out with clear interfaces.
In a modular codebase, any external object, class, or resource that a module needs to perform its function. A dependency that is created internally couples the module to a specific implementation; a dependency that is injected allows the implementation to vary.
A claim about ordering: one thing cannot happen, or cannot safely happen, until another has. Five kinds: technical, data, organizational and decision, external and vendor, and sequencing.
Something an objective needs that the organization does not control. Its six common failure modes are unavailable, late, wrong, withdrawn, repriced and changed without notice.
A thing a risk rests on, runs through, or requires in order not to happen: a system, a supplier, a site, a jurisdiction, a person, a customer segment, or a control.
Where it is taught
The exact lessons this term appears in. The first module of every program is free with a free account.
- Agile Transformation Management · Implementation from Pilot to Scale, Certified AI Transformation Professional (CATP)
- Risk as uncertainty affecting objectives · Enterprise Risk Architecture and Risk Appetite, Certified Enterprise Governance, Risk and Compliance Professional (CEGP)
- Aggregation, concentration, and interconnected risk · Enterprise Risk Architecture and Risk Appetite, Certified Enterprise Governance, Risk and Compliance Professional (CEGP)
- Identification in the change context · Project, Program, Change, and Transformation Risk, Certified Enterprise Governance, Risk and Compliance Professional (CEGP)
- Writing clean, modular, reusable robot code · Programming for Robotics with Python, Foundations of Robotics and Physical AI
Where it shows up at work
A definition is where Dependency starts. The lessons above teach it inside the competencies below, which are what job descriptions ask for and what the GAGE credential records. Every link here is drawn from the same careers map that builds a role's readiness check.
Knows why rollouts stall, separates a skills problem from a trust problem, builds champion networks, and measures adoption honestly.
One lesson on this page teach it as a primary outcome.
Runs stage gates, intake, decision logs and evidence repositories so a pilot cannot reach production without the required approvals.
One lesson on this page teach it as a primary outcome.
Roles that hire for it
Each role page shows the full competency set, what the seat decides, and a readiness check against your own evidence.
- AI Program Managerneeds it at depth · 11 open postings this week
- Chief Information Officer, technology leadership editionneeds working knowledge
- AI Adoption and Enablement Leadneeds it at depth
- Operations Manager, AI-readyneeds working knowledge
- Chief AI Officerneeds it at depth
- Data Governance Leadneeds working knowledge · 2 open postings this week
How job descriptions say it
Postings rarely use the textbook word. These are the phrases the careers map reads as asking for the competencies above.
Where the frameworks place it: PMBOK.
One interview question about it
How do you get a team that fears an AI tool to use it well, and how do you know adoption is real and not reported?
Asked of candidates for adoption and change management. Answering it in your own words is exactly how a GAGE topic is passed, and the credential records the pass where an employer can check it.
If you come from another field
Some backgrounds already carry this competency, and the readiness check gives credit for it.
- Human resources and people operations carries it as a claim to back up: Change programs run through HR.
- Project and program management carries it as a claim to back up: Rollout and adoption planning are usually included.
- A business, MBA or technology management degree carries it as a claim to back up: Change management was taught in cases, not yet led.
Terms it appears with
Not an alphabetical neighbourhood: these are the terms taught in the same lessons, ranked by how often they appear together.