The Product Increment Matrix

Incremental Doesn’t Always Mean Frequent Releases

In Agile and Lean circles, there’s a common belief: incremental development = frequent releases to customers.

🚨 But that’s a myth. 🚨

✅ You can build incrementally without constantly shipping to customers.
✅ Releasing frequently isn’t always the best approach.

There’s a growing dogma that if you’re not releasing early and often, you’re doing it wrong. But for some industries and products, frequent customer releases can be risky, disruptive, or even counterproductive.

Some teams iterate in small, structured increments—but hold releases for larger, scheduled rollouts. Others build in larger batches, holds them, and then release incrementally.

The real question isn’t “how often should we release?” It’s “what approach best serves our product, users, and industry?”

👉 Let’s break down the four major approaches—so you can make the right choice, just head over to Agile Classrooms to learn more.