tech·nic·al·ly agile

The Hidden Costs of Supporting Multiple Versions in Production

Maintaining multiple production versions increases bugs, merge conflicts, and technical debt, making development harder and less efficient for engineering teams.

Published on
1 minute read
Image
https://nkdagility.com/resources/un1ZqM8aYng

Supporting multiple versions in production is a hidden tax on engineering teams.

Every version adds:

Reverse integration—back-porting fixes to older versions—is even worse. It creates instability, increases the risk of unintended regressions, and wastes engineering time.

And then there’s branch by customer—the absolute worst-case scenario. Maintaining separate branches for each client is a scaling disaster, guaranteeing technical debt and a painful development experience.

If a team is struggling to keep track of where changes are applied, it’s already a sign that the branching strategy is broken. Standardise, simplify, and move forward—not backward.

Software Development Technical Mastery Miscellaneous Technical Debt Modern Source Control
Comments

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
Emerson Process Management Logo
Alignment Healthcare Logo
Hubtel Ghana Logo
Freadom Logo
Milliman Logo
Boxit Document Solutions Logo
Epic Games Logo
Ericson Logo
Brandes Investment Partners L.P. Logo
SuperControl Logo
Flowmaster (a Mentor Graphics Company) Logo
Graham & Brown Logo
Schlumberger Logo
Higher Education Statistics Agency Logo
Akaditi Logo

NIT A/S

Philips Logo
New Hampshire Supreme Court Logo
Department of Work and Pensions (UK) Logo
Washington Department of Enterprise Services Logo
Royal Air Force Logo
Nottingham County Council Logo
Washington Department of Transport Logo
Milliman Logo
Cognizant Microsoft Business Group (MBG) Logo
Deliotte Logo
Kongsberg Maritime Logo
ALS Life Sciences Logo
Xceptor - Process and Data Automation Logo