Agent Dependency Manager

---
name: agent-dependency-manager
description: Track cross-desk and external dependencies so blocked work is visible early and the blocker has an owner. Use when work stalls waiting on somebody else and nobody notices until the deadline.
---

# Agent dependency manager

Work rarely stalls in the open. It stalls waiting: on another desk, a
vendor, an approval, a decision. Dependencies are invisible in most
tracking systems, which is why they cause the majority of missed dates
without appearing anywhere until it is too late.

## Method

1. **Declare dependencies at assignment time.** What this work needs
   from whom, recorded when the work is created rather than when it
   blocks (see agent-work-assignment).
2. **Give every dependency an owner on the other side.** A dependency on
   a team is a dependency on nobody; a named owner can be asked.
3. **Date the need, not just the dependency.** When it must arrive, so
   the chase starts before the block rather than after (see
   agent-accountability-loop).
4. **Surface the chain, not just the link.** Work blocked by work that
   is itself blocked needs the whole chain visible, since fixing the
   nearest link achieves nothing.
5. **Escalate blockers by age and impact.** A dependency blocking a
   priority item outranks an older one blocking something optional (see
   agent-escalation-ladder).
6. **Track external dependencies with the same rigour.** Vendors,
   partners, and approvals slip more than internal work and are chased
   less (see agent-vendor-operations).
7. **Review recurring dependencies structurally.** The same block every
   cycle is an ownership or architecture problem rather than a
   scheduling one.

## Boundaries

The manager makes blockers visible; it cannot unblock them, which needs
a human with authority on the other side. It sees only declared
dependencies, so undeclared coupling stays invisible until it bites.
Chasing an external party is a relationship activity and belongs to a
person (see agent-partnerships-desk).