More output destabilises the system

The decision to increase output instead Faros AI and DORA.

Data by Faros shows a pattern they call “acceleration whiplash”: Teams using agents to increase throughput create more output but all quality indicators plunge. Reviews pile up, change failure rate increases, and bugs per developer rise. That includes teams rated by DORA as “high performing”.

The systemic explanation is delivered by Donald Reinertsen. More output increases work-in-process. Capacity utilisation at critical points in the process rises, especially reviews by senior engineers, and the outcome is degraded quality of reviews. High load at bottlenecks is the most expensive state in product development. Code reviews are such a bottleneck today.

More discovery reduces the input to the system at the right stage in the process. Before unvalidated solutions clog the pipeline at critical gates. This reduces load on critical parts of the system and stabilises it. Building less means: bringing fewer wrong things into production, less review load on seniors and a reduced change failure rate.