The Problem No One Talks About
Every engineering team I’ve ever worked with had one -
that invisible thing that quietly slows everything down.
It’s not tech debt.
It’s not missing documentation.
It’s not even that one senior dev who over-engineers everything.
It’s dependency.
*🐢 What It Looks Like
*
It usually looks like this:
A developer finishes a task, but can’t merge until someone approves.
A QA engineer is waiting for staging to be updated.
A product manager needs a go/no-go decision before releasing.
Everyone’s calendar is full of “quick syncs” that kill the flow.
No one screams.
No one panics.
But the whole team moves 20% slower every week — and no one can explain why.
*💡 The Hard Truth
*
Most bottlenecks aren’t in the codebase. They’re in people.
They hide behind “approval chains,” “alignment calls,” and “I just want to make sure we’re all on the same page.”
But what’s really happening?
Teams stop owning the work — because they’re trained to wait.
*🛠️ How to Fix It
*
If you’re a tech lead or VP of R&D, here’s how to start removing the bottleneck:
Remove single points of approval.
If every decision routes through you — you’re the bottleneck.
Let teams own risk.
Allow mistakes. That’s how autonomy is built.
Replace meetings with metrics.
Clarity beats supervision.
Coach, don’t command.
When you guide your team instead of controlling them, execution scales.
*⚡ Why It Matters
*
Engineering bottlenecks rarely make noise.
They don’t crash production.
They just quietly erode momentum until your best people lose energy.
The fix isn’t more tools or heavier process.
It’s trust + clarity + ownership.
That’s what kills the bottleneck for good.
**TL;DR
**If your team moves slower the more you’re involved — you’ve found the hidden bottleneck.
And it’s probably you. 😉
👋 I work with engineering leaders to
help them move from bottlenecks to strategic leaders.
Follow me here - I share frameworks and stories that help teams scale without burning out.
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