Keeping batch sizes small
Batch size commonly refers to the size of a standard unit of work. One of the accomplishments of the Agile movement was the success of focusing delivery on smaller increments. That forced a look at reducing the batch size that could be accomplished for delivery. Reducing batch sizes in addition to limiting WIP are important parts of accomplishing Lean flow. Donald Reinertsen noted the effects of batch size in his book The Principles of Product Development Flow: Second Generation Lean Product Development. Let’s examine what role small batch sizes play.
Small batch sizes decrease cycle time
A key takeaway from Agile development was the delivery of value in short cycles. This had the effect of shortening the cycle time a team had to deliver an increment of value, allowing the team to look at delivering only what it could deliver by the end of the cycle. This allows us to say that batch size is directly related to the cycle time.
Keeping to large...