ScalingProven Pattern

Turn serial dependencies into parallel action by questioning what is truly blocking

The untrained mind defaults to serial activities - 'I will do this after you do that.' But people often assume dependencies where they do not exist. Identify what is actually blocking and run everything else in parallel.

When to use

When planning project execution; when things feel stuck waiting on other things

Don't do this

Assuming everything must happen sequentially when work can actually proceed in parallel

3 Founders Who Did This

1
Upstartby Dave Girouard

Ten times a day Girouard finds himself in meetings saying 'We do not need to wait for that thing, we can do this now'

Result:Radically accelerates project timelines by removing false dependencies
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2
Cash Appby Ayo Omojola

Learned from Emily Chiu to build grids showing dependencies between teams, making it visible when one team is blocking another and using social pressure of timelines to drive completion

Result:Enabled efficient cross-functional coordination during Cash App's hyper-scaling phase
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3
Cash App / Carbon Healthby Ayo Omojola

Adopted cross-functional project management framework: grid all dependencies, make blocking relationships visible, ensure actual implementers commit to timelines

Result:Social pressure from visible dependencies drove execution better than individual productivity optimization across complex cross-functional projects
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