Slicing & Merging pattern enables breaking work into slices and explicitly merging them back into a releasable result.
Split to move fast. Merge to deliver.
Beyond breaking work into slices, this pattern also makes the merging step explicit — how do those slices come back together into something releasable?
The Problem
Breaking work into slices is the first half of the story. The second half — how do those slices come back together into something releasable? Without an explicit merging step, slices pile up without ever producing a result.
How It Works
The pattern works in both directions: a large item is broken into multiple smaller pieces (slicing, 1:n), and the smaller pieces are combined back into a releasable unit (merging, n:1). The board makes this cycle explicit with a dedicated "Waiting for Slices" column where the release item waits until all individual slices are complete. Only then does it move forward to the final integration work.
When to Use It
- Connecting FL2 to FL1: epics slice into stories, results merge back up
- Features bundle into releases
- Coordination requires both splitting and recombining work
Related Patterns
- Slicing — the foundational split-only variant of this pattern
- Connecting FL Parallel — parallel teams each handle a slice and results merge back
- Connecting FL Sequential — sequential handoffs where merging happens after each step
Your play!
Get the cards and maps — all 18 FL2 Flow Patterns plus the new "Identify your Flow" companion map (A3 + A2 in EN, A3 in DE), ready to use in your next FL2 workshop or board design session.