Is there a term used in systems engineering that describes a situation in which the design of one subsystem (call it "A") affects the the requirements for another subsystem (call it "B") while at the same time the design of B affects the requirements for A?
2 Answers
If for some reason "circular dependency" doesn't work—it seems clear enough to me—you could also say that subsystems A and B are "interdependent" in their design.
These are essentially synonyms and in either case you may have to go on to explain exactly what you mean and why. But at least it's a bit more concise and less awkward a construction than "circularly dependent" if you need to keep referring to that aspect.
Another term that would be applicable is mutually reliant.