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Every layer of review makes you 10x slower

apenwarr.ca

March 17, 2026

14 min read

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69/100

Summary

Increased layers of review in a team can significantly slow down workflow, with coordination overhead causing a decrease in speed that is not linear with team size. Effective organizational design is crucial to minimize this overhead and maintain efficiency.

Key Takeaways

Every layer of approval in a process can make it 10 times slower, primarily due to waiting time rather than effort.
A simple bug fix can take 30 minutes to code but may require over 500 hours for approval and scheduling across teams.
AI's impact on speeding up processes is minimal, as it does not significantly reduce the time required for code reviews and approvals.
The only sustainable way to increase speed in workflows is to reduce the number of reviews required.

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Community Sentiment

Mixed

Positives

Shifting reviews to earlier stages and focusing on design sessions can significantly reduce the need for extensive code reviews, enhancing team efficiency.
Startups and smaller organizations can leverage AI more effectively due to fewer bureaucratic layers, allowing for quicker innovation and adaptation.

Concerns

The expectation that code reviews will catch all bugs and design issues is unrealistic, leading to potential delays and frustrations in the development process.