Dependencies grow exponentially with parallel releases

As companies scale, it often feels inevitable that the pace of delivery will slow down. However, this doesn’t have to be the case. The problem is that as we attempt to accelerate delivery through parallel releases, the number of dependencies between projects doesn't just increase—it grows exponentially.

Many organisations attempt to manage this complexity by introducing additional process layers—like incremental planning, resource management, and Git flow—to identify and mitigate these dependencies. Another approach is to add new management roles, such as project managers, program managers, or release train engineers, to oversee the process. While these interventions can be effective at a small scale, they become increasingly less effective as the organization continues to grow.

We’ve been approaching this problem the wrong way. Brooks’ Law highlights that communication overhead increases exponentially as team size grows, and the same principle applies to parallel projects. Attempting to manage an exponential problem with more process or additional layers of management is a losing battle. The solution is not to try to “manage” dependencies but to remove them altogether.

In the article below, I share some practical strategies for eliminating dependencies and maintaining velocity as you scale.

This Week’s Updates

Enabling the Team

No Managers, No Problem? Our 12-month Experiment In Running A Bossless Organization by Pim de Morree
Get honest insights on financials & impact metrics of the transformation of the traditional aerospace company 'Indaero' into a bossless organization.

Slow Product Development? Dependencies Are The Cause by Rory Madden
Dependencies between projects increase exponentially with the number of parallel projects. We've tried (and failed) to manage these dependencies. Instead we need to remove them.

Product Direction

The 13th Month: Product Management's Impact On Renewals by Jim Morris
The 13th Month refers to the renewal after a 12 month subscription. The risk of churn during this stage is very high. Jim shares how he tackles this thorny problem.

The Secret To A Great Planning Process — Lessons From Airbnb And Eventbrite by First Round
Poor planning can spell disaster for companies. This article provides a break down of the "W Framework" to help leaders develop plans, earn alignment and execute planning cycles every time.

Continuous Research

12 Hurdles To Effective Product Trio Collaboration by Melissa Suzuno
Melissa shares 12 common issues related to collaboration struggles in product trios stemming from dominant roles, lack of participation, time constraints and more.

Getting Into The Discovery Mindset by Maria Rosala
Successful discovery requires teams to be open to uncovering “unknown unknowns.” Center your discovery efforts around problems rather than solutions.

Continuous Design

Why Design Is Hard by Scott Berkun
Scott discusses why collaboration is tough for designers and explores 3 ways to thrive: seek power, become influential, or gain self-awareness to navigate career challenges.

Sneaking: The Deceptive UX Pattern You Never Saw Coming by Connor Chan
Sneaking is a deceptive practice that includes three main patterns: forced continuity, hidden costs, and sneak into basket.

Continuous Delivery

The Ultimate Guide To Developer Happiness by Jeimy Ruiz
Supercharge developer happiness—and a more innovative workplace by boosting developer experience, using AI to secure your code, customising LLMs, preparing teamwork and investing in learning opportunities.

Liskov's Gun: The Parallel Evolution Of React And Web Components by Baldur Bjarnason
Baldur claims Web apps are the only open, standardized platform for GUI development. Web Components, APIs, and modern frameworks are key to solving the web crisis.

Speaker Announcement UXDX USA 2025:
Christina Goldschmidt (VP, Product Design)
Warner Music Group

Christina Goldschmidt, VP of Product Design at Warner Music Group, will lead a session on “The Holistic Product Journey: Redefining Design’s Role in Cross-Functional Teams.” Christina will share how her team has transformed product development by embedding design across every phase of the lifecycle, from discovery to iteration. She’ll dive into the challenges of introducing new workflows, the importance of design systems, and how her team is rethinking stakeholder management and design thinking to drive product strategy.

Don't miss this opportunity to learn from an award-winning design leader!

FREE COMMUNITY EVENTS 

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Video of the Week:
Strategic AI Integration in Engineering Teams

Keyvan Azami, Enterprise AI Engineering Lead at Google, redefines how we think about Artificial Intelligence by turning it from a complex challenge into an empowering tool. In this talk, Keyvan shares practical strategies for seamlessly integrating AI into your projects, with a focus on managing expectations and improving user experiences. Whether you're new to AI or already working with it, this session offers valuable insights on harnessing its full potential for innovative problem-solving. Watch it now👇👇

The Results of Last Week’s Poll

The question: How is your annual planning typically approached?

Top down allocation of features is still the number one way that teams approach annual planning with 24.8%. This makes product discovery hard because without understanding the context behind why items are being prioritised it can be difficult to know where to focus research and design efforts.

Second place went to no annual planning with 20.4%. As I talked about in the article, I think there is value in annual planning to help teams break out of a short term focus that OKR’s can lead to.

In good news though, a hybrid approach of top down and bottom up planning came in third place with 19.7%.

As we are in full annual planning mode out there - best of luck whichever approach you take.