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Working in Small Batches

March 29, 2025 4 min read Docs

Explores the concept of working in small batches and single piece flow in DevOps. Discusses how these Lean Manufacturing principles enable faster feedback loops, minimize waste, and support continuous integration and delivery practices for more efficient software development.

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This document explains the importance of working in small batches, how single piece flow enables faster feedback, and how these practices align with DevOps principles to improve efficiency and reduce waste.

Introduction

Working in small batches is a concept derived from Lean Manufacturing that emphasizes fast feedback and minimizing waste. It allows teams to experiment, gain insights quickly, and avoid spending time on features that do not meet customer needs. Single piece flow, a related practice, ensures faster feedback loops by completing one task at a time, enabling rapid inspection and adjustment.

Benefits of Working in Small Batches

Faster Feedback

Small batches enable teams to test hypotheses and gain feedback quickly. This reduces the risk of spending months developing features that may not align with customer expectations.

Waste Reduction

By identifying issues early, such as defects or misaligned requirements, small batches prevent wasted effort on unnecessary work. This approach ensures that only valuable features are developed.

Alignment with DevOps Practices

Small batches support DevOps principles by enabling rapid progression from development through testing and operations into production. Practices like Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery rely on small, manageable changes to ensure frequent and reliable releases.

Comparing Large Batches and Small Batches

Large Batch Example

Using large batches, such as processing 50 items at a time, delays feedback until the entire batch is completed. For example:

  • Folding, inserting, sealing, and stamping 50 brochures takes approximately 16 minutes before the first finished product is ready for inspection.
  • If an issue is discovered, such as a typo or missing glue, it takes 11 minutes to identify the problem, resulting in wasted time and effort.

Small Batch Example (Single Piece Flow)

With single piece flow, each item is completed individually:

  • Folding, inserting, sealing, and stamping one brochure takes about 24 seconds.
  • Issues, such as typos or missing glue, are identified within seconds, allowing immediate adjustments.

This approach minimizes waste and ensures faster feedback, enabling teams to pivot quickly if necessary.

Implementing Small Batches in DevOps

Decomposing Features

Features should be broken down into smaller, manageable tasks that can be completed within a sprint. Features taking multiple sprints indicate that batches are too large.

Frequent Releases

Releases should be frequent and incremental, delivering useful subsets of functionality to gather feedback and refine the product.

Continuous Improvement

Small batches facilitate practices like Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery, ensuring that changes are integrated and deployed frequently with minimal delays.

Conclusion

Working in small batches and using single piece flow enable faster feedback, reduce waste, and align with DevOps practices. By breaking down features into smaller tasks and focusing on incremental delivery, teams can improve efficiency and deliver value to customers more effectively.

FAQ

Working in small batches improves feedback loops by enabling teams to test hypotheses and identify issues quickly, reducing the risk of spending time on features that do not meet customer needs.

Waste reduction is important because it prevents unnecessary effort on defects or misaligned requirements, ensuring that only valuable features are developed.

Practices like Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery align with small batch workflows by enabling frequent and reliable releases of manageable changes.

Yes, large batches delay feedback until the entire batch is completed, increasing the risk of wasted time and effort if issues are discovered late in the process.

Single piece flow enhances efficiency by allowing immediate identification and correction of issues, minimizing waste, and ensuring faster feedback.

If features are not broken down into smaller tasks, they may take multiple sprints to complete, indicating that the batches are too large and reducing the benefits of small batch workflows.

Frequent releases deliver incremental functionality, gather feedback quickly, and refine the product based on user needs, ensuring continuous improvement.

Teams should decompose features into smaller tasks when they take longer than a sprint to complete, as this indicates that the batches are too large.

Yes, single piece flow is suitable for identifying defects early because it allows for rapid inspection and adjustment after completing each task.

Small batches align with Lean Manufacturing principles by emphasizing fast feedback, minimizing waste, and enabling teams to experiment and gain insights quickly.
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