Map the Dependencies

Ordering becomes clearer when each piece names what must exist before it can work.

Decompose

The question

What genuinely blocks what?

Do this

  • Draw only necessary dependencies, not a preferred sequence.
  • Challenge cycles; they often reveal two pieces that were split incorrectly.
  • Distinguish a build dependency from a risky question that can be prototyped early.

Example

  • Order confirmation depends on an order existing. A payment spike does not; it can run against a fake order id before checkout is built.

Ask next

  • ?What must already exist?
  • ?Could a stub remove this dependency?
  • ?Does this cycle reveal a missing boundary?
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