Managing dependencies
How does everyone manage external dependencies within the scrum framework?
For example: we have a story containing multiple tasks, some of which are dependent on other teams (not following agile).
So we end up story pointing tasks knowing that the other team, quite often, won't deliver. This then affects our velocity due to being at the mercy of another team.
I have included members of the other team at stand-ups, which does help with communication & updates, but isn't always possible.
Does anyone have any tips to manage these situations please?
First, you should not be asking the team to estimate any work that is being done outside of the team. Story points are a planning metric for the capacity of the Development Team, and not an indicator of effort by others outside of the team, or as a time equivalent to account for wasteful activities such as "waiting".
That said, one practice that has worked well for me and my teams is to try to the greatest extent possible to resolve all dependencies before an item is accepted by the team. The goal is to have the Development Team in control as much as possible for completing items they forecast.
In the event that an external dependency cannot be resolved prior to Sprint Planning, see if alignment is possible with both pieces of work. Try to ensure that there is a high degree of confidence that the external dependency can deliver in the timeframe you need them to (reliability, past history of delivering, etc).
My teams usually have a pretty firm rule that they will not accept work into a sprint without either having the external dependency completing their piece first, or being confident that the external dependency will deliver in time. Improving communication between the parties (like inviting representatives from dependent teams to your Daily Scrum) is a great idea as well.
Does anyone have any tips to manage these situations please?
How are the dependencies being captured and visualized?