Zero Branch Policy
2023-05-11| Reading Time: 2 | Words: 364
Zero Branch Policy
Let me ask you something: how much of your team's code is "almost ready" right now? 🔁 PRs waiting for review 🌿 Stale branches 🧪 A staging environment that's become a deployment graveyard 🐞 Bugs piling up in the backlog
We've been conditioned to see this as a normal part of development. But what if it isn't?
A lightbulb went on for me while reading 'The Toyota Way'. Their core principle? Inventory is waste. And I realized we have a massive amount of invisible inventory in software development. That's when I started experimenting with a provocative idea: 🚫 The 0 Branch Policy
Hold on—it's not about forbidding branches. It's about a shift in mindset. It's about facing a simple fact: all code that isn't in production is a buffer, and this buffer grows in invisible ways. 🧊 PRs are a buffer 🧊 Staging is a buffer 🧊 Bug backlogs are also a buffer
And we get used to this pile-up as if it were productivity. But it's not.
In practice, this excess directly impacts our DORA Metrics: 📉 Deployment Frequency drops (as deliveries pile up) 🐢 Lead Time increases (waiting for review, integration, testing) ⚠️ Change Failure Rate rises (big bang releases break more often) 🛠️ Time to Restore worsens (due to complexity and slowdowns)
This logic also connects perfectly to the 'Zero Defect Backlogs' idea from NearForm: Accumulating bugs (or PRs) isn't control—it's a sign that the flow is getting stuck. And how do we often try to solve this?
🔧 With microservices. Sometimes it helps, but it often just trades one problem for another: 🔂 Underused APIs 📦 Systems delivered ahead of need 🧩 Unnecessary integrations 🔍 And duplicated tests that slow everything down
The reality? It doesn't matter if it's a monolith or microservices. What really matters is: ✅ End-to-end integration testing ✅ Alignment with real business scenarios ✅ A workflow adapted to the team's actual capacity ✅ Close, human-centric management focused on value
The 0 Branch Policy isn't a strict rule. It's an invitation: 👀 Observe where your work gets stuck ✂️ Cut out what just accumulates 🚶♀️ Make the flow lighter and more continuous
Continuous improvement begins when we stop accepting chaos as inevitable. So, what does your team's "invisible inventory" look like today?