Published October 22, 2016 · 4 min read

“Smaller is faster” is a well-known hardware design principle, as you might already know it. Generally speaking, smaller pieces of hardware will be faster than larger ones because shorter distances, fewer layers, and simpler coordination usually mean less latency.

I have always thought about this principle mainly in terms of computer hardware. Processors, memory, circuits. Just a while ago, however, I started to realize that this principle is also deeply applicable to software development, not just to physical machines. Throughout this post, Iʼll try to give some practical insights, brief reasoning, and a few examples showing how “smaller is faster” also applies to teams, code, and systems in software development.

Smaller is faster

Don Lightfoot in main computing facilities changes some computer tapes at the Rand Corp. Headquarters in Santa Monica, Calif., November 1966. (AP Photo/George Brich)

Smaller Data, Faster Transfer

The amount of data needs to be transferred has been important in software development. Obviously, the smaller the data, the faster itʼs transferred. This simple physical constraint still drives most performance optimization today.

Transferring fast is essential when it comes to web page loading. We want pages to load as fast as they can. As a result, we minify our JavaScript files. We also compress almost anything we can to make transfers as fast as possible. From images to CSS, from payloads to database dumps, we constantly aim to shrink size.

Thus, smaller data favors faster transfers. Even tiny reductions, a few kilobytes shaved off here and there, can add up to a noticeably faster and smoother experience for users.

Smaller Code, Faster Understanding

Understanding a piece of code is an everyday activity for every programmer. Itʼs hard to focus when the code gets big. We have been trying to overcome code complexity by single responsibility principle and many others. Typically, we are trying to minimize, or in other words, make the code smaller so that we can understand it faster.

A function or method with 100 lines of code would be scary to anyone. Hence, the smaller a piece of code, the faster you can understand it. Smaller pieces also make refactoring easier and help reduce cognitive load, allowing developers to see intent rather than syntax.

In short, smaller code doesn’t just look cleaner, it reads faster and feels lighter to work with.

Smaller Teams, Faster Progress

The team size can be one of the key factors for a successful software project. As team size grows, human communication complexities become a burden to the project. Adding more programmers to a project can make a project even worse than it was, as described in The Mythical Man-Month.

In my experience, I have always seen smaller teams produce faster. I think it isnʼt just about communication. As the team gets bigger, you also need to deal with politics and coordination overhead. In a team of three people, you canʼt really have politics. Everyone knows what needs to be done, and progress feels natural.

Consequently, the smaller the team size is, the faster you develop. Small teams make faster decisions, adapt quickly, and build with shared purpose.

Smaller Services, Faster Deployment

In contemporary software development, microservices architecture has been widely adopted. Previously, we developed monolithic applications where a single code base contained all of an applicationʼs logic. As the project grows bigger, it becomes almost impossible to reason about the code base or manage each piece of software.

Decomposing the project into smaller parts became the natural solution. Therefore, the smaller the service you have, the faster it is to develop, test, and deploy it. Smaller services also reduce dependency risks and make ownership clearer.

When teams build and own small services independently, release cycles shorten, recovery improves, and innovation happens faster.

All in All

"Smaller is faster" is applicable to various aspects of software development. The smaller the software is, the faster it becomes to understand, develop, deploy, and optimize it. This principle applies not only to code and systems but also to how we think and organize teams. Smallness brings clarity, speed, and focus. It helps us cut through noise, make better decisions, and deliver results with precision.

In the end, simplicity scales. Smaller truly is faster.