Dependencies & Risks for Multi-Team Programs

Every program you've worked on probably had a risk register and a dependency log. Both probably died around week three.

This isn't a discipline problem. It's a design problem.

Most templates make these registers easy to start and impossible to maintain.

Dependencies get logged at kickoff and forgotten. The other team doesn't even know they have a dependency on you. Risks are vague, "resourcing might be an issue", disconnected from the work they threaten, only reviewed when something has already gone wrong.

This toolkit replaces both with two registers that are specific enough to act on, simple enough to maintain, and connected to your delivery plan.

What you get

• Excel template — Dependency Log: internal and external dependencies, with owners on both sides, dates, capability links, and status. Pre-filled example tab plus a blank version.
• Excel template — Risk Register: specific risks with impact, likelihood, calculated severity, owner, mitigation, and status. Five worked-through risks as an example, plus a blank version.
• 7-page PDF guide: why most registers fail, how dependencies and risks connect, worked examples for both, and a 5-step process for using the templates.

Who this is for

• Program managers running multi-team programs with vendor or cross-org dependencies
• Project managers who've watched a risk register die in week three
• PMO leads who need a baseline for risk and dependency tracking across projects
• Anyone tired of being surprised by things they should have seen coming

What's it like to use

Open both example tabs. See what good looks like, every dependency has an owner on both sides, every risk is specific enough to do something about. Then move to the blank versions and fill them in for your project. Add them to your weekly cross-team meeting. Update only when something real changes.

This isn't a register that sits in a folder nobody opens. It's a working document that pays its rent every week.

About Structured Way

Dependencies & Risks is part of the Structured Way toolkit family. Practical tools for running programs and projects, built by a program manager, for program managers.

Visit structuredway.com to explore the rest.