Internal dependencies
Links among tasks, products, or activities that the Scrum Team directly manages and that fall within the team's own scope of work.
Key Points
- Owned and controlled by the Scrum Team, not by outside parties.
- Handled through backlog refinement, Sprint Planning, and Daily Scrum to align sequencing.
- Made visible on the team's board to manage order, handoffs, and timing.
- Can often be reduced by slicing work, decoupling, or redefining acceptance criteria.
Example
The team's story "Build checkout UI" must wait for the same team's story "Finalize payment API endpoints." Both items are in the Scrum Team's backlog, so the team sequences them within the Sprint to avoid blocking.
PMP Example Question
A Scrum Team cannot start creating the reporting dashboard until their own data engineer completes the data model in the same Sprint. What type of dependency is this?
- External dependency
- Internal dependency
- Mandatory dependency only
- Regulatory dependency
Correct Answer: B — Internal dependency
Explanation: The work and control reside within the same Scrum Team and within their scope, so it is an internal dependency.
