Risks, decisions, and dependencies
How Skopo models operational risks, durable decisions, and cross-project dependencies.
Skopo keeps the context that shapes delivery decisions close to the work. Risks, decisions, and dependencies are first-class records in the Operations view of every project. They support the same collaboration model as other records and surface in ritual outcomes and release readiness checks.
Risks
A risk is a recorded uncertainty that could affect delivery. Each risk captures:
- a description of the uncertainty;
- a probability and impact rating;
- an owner responsible for monitoring and mitigation;
- a mitigation plan;
- a review date.
The Operations view lists open risks alongside their current status: needs mitigation, being monitored, or resolved. High-impact open risks that have not been mitigated contribute to blocking release readiness in the Delivery view.
Risks can be created directly from the Operations view or generated as follow-ups from a ritual outcome. Rituals are a natural place to surface delivery risks — they can be raised in session and automatically linked to the ritual outcome record.
Decisions
A decision is a durable record of a significant choice made by the team. Decisions are not a log of every discussion; they capture choices that are worth revisiting later, including:
- the context and options that were considered;
- the decision reached and its rationale;
- the consequences anticipated;
- links to superseding decisions if the team later changes course.
Decisions are created from the Operations view and can be linked to ritual outcomes when the decision was reached in a session. A decision record persists the actor, timestamp, and reasoning so the team can understand why something was decided even after the people involved have moved on.
Dependencies
A dependency is a recorded relationship where one project, goal, release, artifact, or work item must wait for or coordinate with another. Dependencies in Skopo are typed and cross-project: a dependency in Project A can point to a work item or release in Project B.
The Operations view shows active dependencies alongside their current state: open, resolved, or blocked. Cross-project blocking dependencies surface on board cards and in ritual candidate work. Unresolved dependencies involving a current release also block the release readiness gate in the Delivery view.
Dependencies can be identified and created during ritual sessions, where they appear as follow-ups in the completed ritual outcome.