Steps to reproduce:

1. Create dirs shared and project1. mkdir shared project1
2. Create build.gradle in project root
   

   subprojects {
      usePlugin('java')
   
      beforeEvaluate { p ->
         if (p.name != "shared")
            p.dependencies.add("compile", project(':shared'))
      }
   
   }
   

   Error message is:

   Failed to notify action.
   Cause: The dependency notation: project ':shared' is invalid!

   BUILD FAILED

However the other notation works fine:

...
 p.dependencies.add("compile", p.dependencies.project(':shared'))
...