This post is part of the series – Accelerating Delivery Without Losing Quality: Lessons From a Team’s Internal Struggle.

See the related posts here.

In the previous post I wrote about how we optimised release testing in production.

In this post, I will talk additional lessons we learned to accelerate our enterprise product release cadences without compromising on product quality.

Strengthen Inter‑Team Collaboration & Feedback Loops

Challenge	Approach	Tool/Practice
No timely feedback	Structured documentation	Design Docs / ADRs
Decisions get lost	Accountability matrix	RACI chart
Over‑reliance on ad‑hoc conversations	Asynchronous review	Comment threads + reminders

What We Adopted

1. Design Docs & Architecture Decision Records (ADRs)
   • Every major design choice is captured with context, alternatives considered, and a “next steps” section.
2. Asynchronous Feedback with Deadlines
   • We share a “Feedback Request” Slack thread, tag relevant stakeholders, and set a 48‑hour deadline.
   • Automated reminders prevent the request from slipping into oblivion.
3. RACI‑style Ownership
   • Each ADR lists who is Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed.
   • This reduces “who‑should‑review‑this” uncertainty.

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4. Quick‑Start Action Plan (30‑Day Sprint)

Day	Action	Owner
1‑3	Draft a Release Process playbook	Release Lead
4‑7	Create a shared ADR template	Architecture Lead
8‑10	Run a pilot ADR for an upcoming feature	Feature Owner
11‑14	Implement automated “sanity” tests	QA Lead
15‑20	Set up Slack channel “Feedback‑Flow”	PM
21‑25	Review 3 completed ADRs for clarity	Peer Reviewers
26‑30	Conduct a retrospective on the new practices	All

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Conclusion

Fast delivery is possible without sacrificing quality, if you structure the trade‑offs, document decisions, and enforce a clear feedback cadence. The key is to start somewhere: a small change in the release pipeline or a single ADR template can cascade into a culture shift.

By treating quick fixes as temporary and pairing them with a clear review path, the team can focus on “doing it right the first time” where it truly matters, while still being nimble enough to meet urgent customer needs.

Feel free to adapt the practices above to your organization, and remember:

the goal is not to eliminate all firefighting, but to make the firefighting visible, intentional, and manageable.