When teams hear about small, frequent deployments, they often picture chaos: code breaking, users complaining, and developers scrambling to fix issues. But in reality, small deployments do the opposite. They reduce complexity, amplify feedback, and create a smoother experience for both users and developers.
Starting Small
Imagine you’re building an order-entry system for garage doors. These products vary greatly in complexity. Some doors are simple: one size, no options, no fuss. But others have billions of possible configurations—windows, colors, insulation, and lift systems. Not all options are compatible, and it takes careful coding to ensure orders are valid.
Now, if you try to build a system that handles every possible door and configuration in one release, you’d create a massive change surface. The code would have countless dependencies, complex decision trees, and interactions with external systems. It would be incredibly difficult to test, validate, and deploy.
Instead, you start small. Release a system that handles only standard doors with no options. This keeps the change surface small, reduces the chance of errors, and lets you validate the system’s core functionality. With feedback from users, you can expand incrementally—adding complexity one piece at a time, learning and adapting as you go.
This approach not only simplifies development but also helps uncover user needs early. When we released the minimal system, smaller dealers gave immediate feedback: the interface needed to be more keyboard-friendly to match their workflows. Starting small allowed us to make adjustments before adding more complexity, saving significant time and effort.
Small Changes, Big Benefits
By keeping the change surface small, you make deployments faster and safer. Large, complex releases increase the risk of failure and the time needed for testing and preparation. But small, incremental releases allow you to:
Reduce Risk: Smaller changes mean fewer dependencies and fewer potential points of failure.
Speed Up Feedback: Early, frequent releases let you learn from real-world usage sooner.
Adapt More Quickly: If users need something different, you can pivot without scrapping months of work.
Improving the User Experience
Small deployments don’t just benefit development teams—they improve the experience for end-users as well.
Seamless Updates: Incremental changes slide into the user experience without requiring training or disrupting workflows. Unlike large feature drops, which often introduce steep learning curves, small changes are easy to adopt.
Faster Access to Value: Users don’t have to wait for a massive release to see improvements. They benefit from a steady stream of enhancements, delivered as soon as they’re ready.
A Better Fit: Frequent updates allow you to validate features in real-world conditions, ensuring they meet users’ needs. If something isn’t working, you can adapt quickly, preventing frustration and building trust.
Getting Started with Small Changes
You don’t need to leap straight into continuous delivery. Start by isolating a single feature and ask: How can we deliver this in slices?
For example:
Instead of building a full-featured search, start with a simple list view of past orders.
Instead of integrating every possible option into a single release, focus on the most common use case first.
These small steps not only reduce complexity but also help your team develop the muscle for breaking down work into manageable pieces.
Conclusion
Small deployments aren’t just about speed—they’re about managing complexity. By keeping your change surface small, you reduce risk, increase agility, and deliver value more effectively. Starting small helps you learn from users, make smarter decisions, and build software that truly serves their needs.
Start experimenting with slicing features into smaller pieces. You’ll be surprised at how much easier—and more effective—software delivery can become.
Further Reading
Learn about the advantages of simplifying workflows and minimizing complexity through trunk-based development practices.
Explore how feature toggles help manage complexity and enable smaller, incremental changes.
A primer on using blue/green deployments to reduce risk during frequent releases.
Continuous Delivery: What It Is and How to Get Started (Atlassian)
An accessible introduction to continuous delivery and how small, frequent deployments improve software delivery.
Discusses why incremental development leads to better software and happier teams.