[FAQ Bot] NEW: When two groomed backlog issues depend on each other (cycle), should I i (#388)

* NEW: When two groomed backlog issues depend on each other (cycle), should I i

* Repoint backlog-cycle FAQ to Unit 1, restore review-unit nuance (#388)

---------

Co-authored-by: FAQ Bot <faq-bot@datatalks.club>
Co-authored-by: Alexey Grigorev <alexey.s.grigoriev@gmail.com>

Author: 3 people

_questions/ai-dev-tools-zoomcamp/01-ai-native-workflow/014_1f4ae0aa4b_grooming-backlog-cycles-implement-one-issue-at-a-t.md

@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+---
+id: 1f4ae0aa4b
+question: When two groomed backlog issues depend on each other (cycle), should I implement
+  them one at a time anyway?
+sort_order: 14
+---
+
+Yes, implement in dependency order—but fix the backlog first and don’t work around a cycle.
+
+Why it happens: the grooming/PM agent typically looks at one issue at a time, so Issue A’s acceptance criteria can assume an endpoint that Issue B will introduce, while Issue B’s constraints assume A already exists. With the “linked follow-up” rule, both issues can end up assuming the other, creating a grooming bug.
+
+What to do:
+1) Identify which issue “owns” the shared piece (usually the model or the endpoint).
+2) Move that shared work into the owning issue, delete it from the other issue, and use a one-way dependency link (e.g., “blocked by #…”) instead of mutual/blocking links.
+3) If they can’t be separated because they’re truly one vertical slice, merge them into a single issue and close the other as a duplicate.
+4) After grooming (before implementing anything), run a quick dependency check: ask the assistant to list dependencies between all open issues and flag any cycles. Catching cycles early prevents engineers from writing code against a spec that can’t hold.
+
+Then implement in dependency order once the cycle is removed. "One issue at a time" is about keeping each unit of work small enough to review, not about the issue count.