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Diagram: overlapping increments

publish date: 2026/05/29 08:22:41.451210 UTC

volume_mute

The following diagram shows overlapping increments in development.

What does the overlap between increments represent?

Only one increment can be worked on at a time.

Work on a new increment can begin before the previous increment is fully completed.

Each increment replaces the previous one entirely with no reuse.

Increments must be completed strictly one after another with no overlap.

Work on a new increment can begin before the previous increment is fully completed.

In practice, teams may start planning or developing the next increment while the current one is still being validated or refined.

Software Engineering, Ian Sommerville, 9th edition