# [[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]].
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# Excalidraw Data
## Text Elements
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## Embedded Files
dea3b39f705aa5b5911c01b9a981112779d6693e: [[icon-breathing-ball-collapsed.png]]
c5b57bdaef5e0512a27d6889973f01e0fd6a153d: [[icon-breathing-ball-expanded.png]]
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