Software engineering and dependencies

If you’re a software engineer, and an upstream dependency is unreliable, then you would speak to the team who owns that dependency.

You’d explain the impact that is having on your team, and the organisation, and start a discussion on how it could be improved.

That could mean investing in a better interface, like an API.

It could be adopting SLOs, and a commitment to meeting them.

It could be investing in a better service by re-architecture.

If that team can’t prioritise that work, then you start thinking how to make it a priority for them.

So, you start engaging with your organisations prioritisation frameworks. OKRs, KPIs, quarterly planning, etc.

If you still can’t get them to prioritise, you might just do the work yourself, in partnership with them.

You do all of this because you know - and can demonstrate - the impact this haves for the organisation.

When data is having a similar impact for the organisation, why would the approach be different?