Projects

Blockers & Dependencies

Blockers are named impediments preventing a project from moving forward. Dependencies are cross-project links: Project A cannot proceed until Project B delivers something. Together they give your portfolio a clear view of what is stuck and why.

Blockers

A blocker is any impediment logged on a specific project. It has a title, an optional description, and a status: open or resolved. You can optionally link a blocker to another project as its source - useful when the delay originates from a dependency project slipping.

Logging a blocker

Open any project and go to the Blockers & Dependencies section in the right sidebar. Click Log a blocker, enter what is blocked, add detail in the description, and optionally select the source project causing it. Save. The blocker immediately appears in the panel and contributes to the dashboard blockers strip.

Resolving a blocker

Click the shield icon next to any open blocker to mark it resolved. The resolved timestamp is saved. Click again to reopen it. Resolved blockers are displayed dimmed at the bottom of the list.

DASHBOARD STRIP

The main dashboard shows a blockers strip whenever there are open blockers anywhere in the company. It shows the count of open blockers and how many projects are affected. This makes blockers visible at a glance without opening individual projects.

Dependencies

A dependency is a directional link between two projects: the dependent project needs the dependency project to deliver before it can proceed. This is separate from milestones - it is a portfolio-level constraint, not a task inside a project.

Adding a dependency

Open a project and go to the Blockers & Dependencies section. Switch to the Dependencies tab. Click Add dependency. Select the project this one depends on and add optional notes. The link is saved immediately.

Cascade risk

If a depended-on project has a health status of 'poor' or 'critical', the dependency card shows a cascade risk warning. This surfaces the financial knock-on effect: if Project B is in critical health, Project A which depends on it is at risk even if Project A itself looks healthy.

Reverse dependencies

The Dependencies tab also shows 'Depended on by' - a read-only list of other projects that depend on this one. This helps project leads understand how many downstream projects would be affected if their delivery slips.

Permissions

Role	View blockers/deps	Log/add	Resolve/remove
DASHMASTER	Yes	Yes	Yes
DASHKEEPER	Yes	Yes	Yes
OBSERVER	Yes	No	No

Activity log

Logging, resolving, and deleting blockers, as well as adding and removing dependencies, are all recorded in the project activity log. Events are labelled with a shield icon for blockers and a link icon for dependencies.