Domain 15: Dependency Management

Service Maps, Vendor SLAs, Dependency Health

SRE Bot | Release | Max 30 Points

0-6
Ad-hoc
7-12
Foundational
13-18
Standardized
19-24
Advanced
25-30
Optimized

Scoring Criteria by Level

LevelCriteria
1Unknown dependencies; surprise failures from vendors
2Partial dependency list; some vendor tracking
3Service maps exist; vendor SLAs tracked; alerts on deps
4Dependency health dashboard; degradation strategies
5Auto-discovery; vendor SLA enforcement; antifragile design

Assessment Questions

#QuestionMax
1Do you have a complete service map?6
2How do you track vendor SLAs?6
3How do you monitor dependency health?6
4What's your strategy for vendor outages?6
5How do you manage library dependencies?6

Focus Areas

  • Service Maps: Visual dependency graphs
  • Vendor SLAs: Tracked, compared to internal SLOs
  • Health: Dependency health as metric
  • Degradation: Graceful handling of dep failures

Anti-Patterns (Red Flags)

  • Unknown critical dependencies
  • No vendor status monitoring
  • Single vendor for critical path
  • Outdated library dependencies
  • No fallback for vendor outage

Evidence Checklist

  • Service dependency map exists
  • Vendor SLAs documented and monitored
  • Dependency health dashboard available
  • Degradation strategies for critical deps
  • Library dependency scanning automated

Related Domains

DomainRelationship
ReliabilityCircuit breakers for deps
ObservabilityTrack dependency metrics
SecurityLibrary vulnerability scanning

Know Your Dependencies

Your SLO is bounded by theirs.