Company
Date Published
Author
Kenneth DuMez
Word count
624
Language
English
Hacker News points
None

Summary

As the year concludes with code freezes, a period when no new code changes are allowed to maintain stability and minimize risks in production, developers often face the challenge of blocked progress and accumulating tech debt. To address this, the practice of "stacking" has emerged, allowing developers to parallelize review and development by breaking work into smaller, dependent pull requests (PRs) rather than large, monolithic ones. Popularized by tech giants like Meta and Google, stacking enables continuous coding and testing even when merges to the main branch are restricted, as these smaller PRs are easier to review, faster to merge, and less risky. This method not only facilitates quicker post-freeze deliveries but also ensures thorough reviews and easier debugging by isolating changes into concise units. Stacking offers a productive way to navigate year-end challenges and can be a valuable practice year-round to maintain momentum and collaboration in development teams.