# [[Software cyclically breathes complexity in, then out]] ![[Software cyclically breathes complexity in, then out.svg]] In [[Tech]], software tends to go through cycles of complexity: 1. At first, a plucky new startup disrupts the industry by taking something old and clunky and [[Monolith|monolithic]] and removing most of it so that only the [[Essentialism|essential]] remains. This startup does not have all the features of the incumbent technologies, but it's the best at *one thing*. 2. The startup is lightweight and agile, so they grow quickly and gather traction among the community. The continue to cement their position in the industry as the biggest fish in a very small pond by focusing on the niche thing they're good at. 3. The startup has likely already overtaken some of the bigger players, and they begin to incorporate more and features that their tech-savvy customers are asking for. This leads the former startup to be both more established and more of a generalist tool. 4. The company decides to grow even further in complexity and features. It is now a generalist tool that can do almost everything, and is supported by a large team. Now the market is ripe for another disruption... and the cycle begins again. [[Enshittification]] is a related concept, but enshittification isn't tech specific and takes a negative view of where a company ends up, noting that large, succesful companies often sell out and lose many of the principles they stuck to when they were smaller. ## References In [[2025-06-26 Sync with David]] with [[David Allen (DevRel)|David Allen]], he mentioned this phenomenon of "breathing in and out" while we were talking about the changes [[Grafana Loki|Loki]] is going through to get to [[Loki 4.0]]. %% # Excalidraw Data ## Text Elements large slow complex sophisticated ^oJxzXzFv small agile niche simple ^NmuqDTgZ ## Embedded Files dea3b39f705aa5b5911c01b9a981112779d6693e: [[icon-breathing-ball-collapsed.png]] c5b57bdaef5e0512a27d6889973f01e0fd6a153d: [[icon-breathing-ball-expanded.png]] ## Drawing ```compressed-json N4KAkARALgngDgUwgLgAQQQDwMYEMA2AlgCYBOuA7hADTgQBuCpAzoQPYB2KqATLZMzYBXUtiRoIACyhQ4zZAHoFAc0JRJQgEYA6bGwC2CgF7N6hbEcK4OCtptbErHALRY8RMpWdx8Q1TdIEfARcZgRmBShcZQUebQBGAGZtAAYaOiCEfQQOKGZuAG1wMFAwMogSbggAdmUAawB1KAA2DgBlADEeABkAIQ7NABYoAHE6gCViAGl0sshYRCrCfWik fnLMbmdB+MHtRPjm6uP4gE4ADh5Ennj1yBgt+Pjz7XPBwcSU8/PE6vPTlLNPjFSAUEjqbg3U7aaqJZqJU48ACsh0GzUu1TuUgQhGU0kh8SRMPOT1+gxR8Wqz0xIIg1mUwW4KSxzCgpDYdQQAGE2Pg2KQqmzrMw4LhArlZuVNLhsHVlOyhBxiDy+QKJEKOCKxTkoJLIAAzQj4fBtWCMiSCDx6iCs9mchrgySQllsjkIU0wc3oS2VLEKvEccL5NC3W lsUXYNQPEMpZm0+XCOAASWIwdQBQAulj9eRsinuBwhMasYQlVgqrg0n7hErA8w04Xi7SwghiNwnhjkYkUVjGCx2Fw0Mjmr2mKxOAA5ThidvIr4A6qnUNzCrMAAimSgre4+oIYSxmhrxAAosFsrk05msUI4MRcFu2yHqijYfEeH8znGV0QOHUC0X8CxPlZW3NBd3wfdmyiKAhDTCBECVUtlGtQ1gnzCRiBCRJNARfVqhSJFcFwJFNCRJd4mwFJ4k0 U5cAuJ432OU5iGaZpTkSNZm3ccR0xBMBlzmeIQSzWlsHZOB/2NYoAF91lKcpKgkAB9TQAHkACtNAACQALQATSMAAFUhNCmKYUgAWWqSQLLgNhrQWHiKhWZROJXTYYziHh6NOY40XfdER1paNUGcHhmhSbQeB4NEUnY58sTBYgITQBEkSxSQcTxXVUtOdLaXpL0v3KW03RVflBXITVRXFXUDxlOUFSVcq1XQDUtVqlCjRNM0nJ9NsXTtBAHWSp0h0 Gt0PS9G1eV9Wl/UkOs0wEyBwxlKN21jLEExvFNLxElcc1wPNH1QRtANpUtMI89BcHia0muIJbJIulcW1Os4kXeQZ2JuUd+04SFisgPtxw4KcOBnVLF2aJIfhLddN1A1BwMgldD0VE8zx1S8+PkldFPQQZmGaEYAEc2niABFLKAEEAA1zn1IwLInOB3z1cpHIrUh2SoPjpOE69b3vZHKRfA5vLhb4gNLP80HOoC2BA07UYQF171gqoEMcDhkOzI0E HQ9BsBIpFqk0O8EH1JEEAIt9cHfFjvlOXzEn1Ki7f1Fi7qRRIBq4ggeKKOZ+LufihdE8SXpkuTLtOiBidJinqbpxnmdZ9nqgc+AnLFPnrRu5wkniBI4UBWEAXeM4sRCsKiWeaKSR+nZBkBZFEsdAlqm0H7EjRRFEkuEkO9pTLcXxEMEkGZEP1HldCp44GbVdTkWqqABieIEG37frWlWUdua3kKvVKqOp1LrjSmvrZoDt7V+Grvxqgoab6qfqHuEA Mg3bLE1sjLATay8drJlTIUA65QjonReiWMsN06Q8C/pjZ6aB8bzFzpCEEslmwIDFlSHgVFyQEX+mDbgrtSEDghlDVAM9qg8HOCkcKiQEYbmCA+Hce51a0gxkqU8WQcYQOFneDhT4JZvnYuic4stfywNpMBTkqsuFYjsqWPIhQ+Ih1DsDMoKQ+KQLKFouYNwe59wHlcYeb58qh34tPWeI8kT6Mjt+UIUAeT6H0GoB8hk2BqLkQ/MUUBehXSQv48oO RiDBMQnrbg6CMDY1yMbCAKkNLaX0kZEyZlLLWVsvZcOEB9TKy1mgZwkVCEpB+vhMiDDqhHEXCtSAyhcASRDESU4bdFxIn+G8X4ji5g4ICaQKAtNeZsAoJlXAp1Fa0giSMvmEyE75zGdaIIh4KDIzVrHYo+MKgJzYAAKUwEYemRgOj0BzosdUWA6q0huiiZIPTKR/DqfCU4tcth5Sit8NizR/IknOOiTuo12yHBhEPBhViMpZUnqgeIW0Cp6yKhNN eJ9WoQC3jvTF+8GpH2VKiyqwoaqXwNtfXqH877WlKvaZ+vBkXujJRaCl1Y/CLV/iGf+EYNoxhAQqMB+1sy5iNlMgCcDroVkSMg2sbKzoitwWLGepxYbwm8pQwGIZ3iqvBtOHizQkQpGuH7P2rCkZKIgtw9GR5+HnnUWgK8tIbwiPweInYvwAUyPljKps35laKM4WarEW5MA5XQPgMUrkAA6mo+QUEjXofQPgsCRsEHASQhBWTmFFvfco5AKAABVr lVFDaQCNUaxmxoMAmzASbwypvTXgDh2ZOBQDaIQIwPFCGNtyB0Y6RoQqDADdc2mRBlCDhDdbG5K4+xQAzfgIduJR3QHDNaPQuRcCliYMbaZK5+S4lLAQfNQbC1hoQEm6N5b43BCrZqGtabp31u3FiXAQgoBsHGOEVtPE2RCHNeUH8CAtLQuDaXZEWyyg7MJhACc+ghBkzXLm5QOkLlOUDROjYWxBiLgSHCphgJelvmBCuOuvztBdP8kiGKrd25Ap Sqgc2MJESKvOAlMegHgGPsRUvOl68JAYt3m5KUOLHrcbaufIlEoSU9U9LfK0dKRo0YIyVR+79GUyfmt/Vl9Y/5hk5UA7l21eV7SEbSaBQqwmQCuuWCQxFJVPWlVukqeDTo3HfEiL6TCWG0lBgOdserNXUJ4uLKicKSTGvYRs5RPDLUJJtemAxEAHWZvbM+SkBw0rwiCt+OWZmIAKPC/62kKGP4rGNJG6IhtI0cHMJlJNywE0PUoAe4NNpiv4FK6o YIFWqsns1LVxknbm0fqBv17tnj8B9oHUGudI7C3jutFOmdU2F0vokliFdUR12kE3bK7dpBd0cH3QWi0LW2vlY4JV7A1WesXv45AJ9L632sDbdwL9P7IB/oAxPIDUU+lgEFmAA6dI4BwFNKLWJxRoCZWyIWz7koGCEAQBQXogmjzCfRfqdHGPYfYBELVJMW59CmiGqj3jWL1gQGx7zHUeOshI8PkJ/FZ9CXanE+DinuP8cdG6sp70TLWc46p/jwnb o5NjVpXzyniTBdKYZTz1T5Q2cC6yOMdTqDYVk4V5LrIqkdMhWw+r/nmv9AdCbSN3t3B+3i/Z1kY3uQW1PaHMVcnBuoDU/0I1xbM39SoadxLl3UvAlzLGQssJPurf6GPEqQP4yQiLNGVQfXvvXdR9zZgiQj1YfMDEryfA9NuB6peJLJI7SLhsSRBlgQWfjR6XNwCbQirXY7GC2RREFvyhGDYAYMHk6CDfqZHXq4BwhJlAGZADXfuldHlVxAdPZP5Q kDt+2x3c/iCmgQC02js/dvEAsmwTCEfcCaGCKatGjSt/CZ2b0XkCdi3SgABQmOoLwSkj+H+oEikiAAlNaN9ygixiiqDfrgPfp8C/iAbwGAe/l/qBqPs7kLpyNrtOpwA2NtgaIKm+mWLtjEmgjMvtofsjC9qtkQOvgQbSPtlDmgCQdus+n+s9qQN+tARAHYOpAgNgHkG0PtnADvnvrgUfn6ifnSKwYQIwLmh3vgF3lzKnt6JkIIYDKtrBC+m7pIfZ m9j6nlifqgQYG0NIYgaOmrEBK4rTIIcIaITHMPuAAMgUobGmMAILNJEAA=== ``` %%