Who is the weakest link?

My preference for identifying problem areas in a technical project is to look for weak links.

Weak links aren’t (ever) individuals, even if they are under-performing or lack the skill-set to complete the task.

Weak links are where two or more people interface with each other in their work.

Weak links are where there needs to be a hand-off of one piece of work from one individual contributor (or completely separate team) to another individual contributor (or completely separate team).

Identifying the weak links early, and being vigilant for new weak links appearing, are hugely beneficial to cutting off potential problems long before they become actual problems.