How can you optimize slow Bamboo build times?

Slow builds usually come from one of a few repeatable causes, and the fixes map directly to them:

1. Not enough parallelism — split a monolithic job into multiple jobs (e.g. separate unit tests from integration tests) so they run concurrently across agents instead of one long sequential job.
2. Dependency re-download every run — cache Maven/npm/Gradle dependency directories on the agent instead of fetching them fresh each time.
3. Agent contention — if jobs are queueing, add more remote agents or use Elastic Bamboo to scale agent count with demand rather than running everything through a handful of static agents.
4. Oversized checkout — use shallow clones for plans that don't need full repository history.
5. Wrong capability matching — overly broad requirements can send jobs to agents that then have to install missing tools first; keep capability declarations tight and accurate.

The queue/timeline view in Bamboo is the first place to look — it shows whether time is lost waiting for an agent versus time spent actually executing tasks, which tells you whether to fix capacity or fix the pipeline itself.