a·gen·tic a·gil·i·ty

Branch promotion is a relic of slow, manual software delivery

TL;DR; Branch promotion slows down delivery and adds risk, while modern teams merge changes into the main branch as soon as they are ready and use feature flags to separate deployment from release. Testing in production-like environments and instant rollbacks improve speed and safety. Focus on managing the flow of work, not branches, to streamline delivery.

Published on
1 minute read
Image
https://nkdagility.com/resources/xLVnF1dEnfO
Subscribe

Branch promotion is a relic of slow, manual software delivery.

Modern teams integrate continuously:

This approach makes rollbacks instant—no need for painful cherry-picking. And it eliminates reverse integration, a practice that introduces more risk than it removes.

The best teams don’t manage branches. They manage flow.

Also published on: LinkedIn
Smart Classifications

Each classification [Concepts, Categories, & Tags] was assigned using AI-powered semantic analysis and scored across relevance, depth, and alignment. Final decisions? Still human. Always traceable. Hover to see how it applies.

Subscribe

Connect with Martin Hinshelwood

If you've made it this far, it's worth connecting with our principal consultant and coach, Martin Hinshelwood, for a 30-minute 'ask me anything' call.

Our Happy Clients​

We partner with businesses across diverse industries, including finance, insurance, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, technology, engineering, transportation, hospitality, entertainment, legal, government, and military sectors.​

Genus Breeding Ltd Logo

Genus Breeding Ltd

Teleplan Logo

Teleplan

DFDS Logo

DFDS

Graham & Brown Logo

Graham & Brown

Jack Links Logo

Jack Links

Slaughter and May Logo

Slaughter and May

Flowmaster (a Mentor Graphics Company) Logo

Flowmaster (a Mentor Graphics Company)

Trayport Logo

Trayport

MacDonald Humfrey (Automation) Ltd. Logo

MacDonald Humfrey (Automation) Ltd.

Healthgrades Logo

Healthgrades

NIT A/S

Slicedbread Logo

Slicedbread

Alignment Healthcare Logo

Alignment Healthcare

Higher Education Statistics Agency Logo

Higher Education Statistics Agency

ProgramUtvikling Logo

ProgramUtvikling

Epic Games Logo

Epic Games

Cognizant Microsoft Business Group (MBG) Logo

Cognizant Microsoft Business Group (MBG)

Schlumberger Logo

Schlumberger

Royal Air Force Logo

Royal Air Force

Nottingham County Council Logo

Nottingham County Council

Washington Department of Transport Logo

Washington Department of Transport

Department of Work and Pensions (UK) Logo

Department of Work and Pensions (UK)

New Hampshire Supreme Court Logo

New Hampshire Supreme Court

Washington Department of Enterprise Services Logo

Washington Department of Enterprise Services

Brandes Investment Partners L.P. Logo

Brandes Investment Partners L.P.

Qualco Logo

Qualco

Healthgrades Logo

Healthgrades

Jack Links Logo

Jack Links

Microsoft Logo

Microsoft

Higher Education Statistics Agency Logo

Higher Education Statistics Agency