How to get a bigger bang through smaller batches

Reducing batch size is a secret weapon in Agile software development.

Batch size is the amount of work you carry between stages in your workflow and a batch is only complete when it’s made it all the way through your workflow and is delivering value.

Working in small batches gets your product to market sooner. It makes it much more likely you’ll deliver on time and budget, and catch quality issues before they start to create huge headaches.

The effect is especially strong with big batch projects. Research shows that as you increase the planned duration of your project, the slippage you’re likely to experience increases exponentially.

Working in small batches can seem counterintuitive because you lose economies of scale, but economic analysis shows that the benefits far outweigh the downsides.

In this post you’ll learn how working in small batches reduces project risk and you'll get five practical ways to reduce batch size. Plus you can take a quiz to learn how effective you are currently at keeping your batches small.

How to reduce batch size in Agile software development (and why you should)

The inspiration to make a bigger impact

The Agile Professional Foundation gives you everything you need to really start making stuff happen at work: the theory, the practical tools and the inspiration.

Over the two days, you’ll learn what you need to master the Agile mindset — the values and principles at the heart of Agile. With this in place, you’ll run through entertaining exercises that show the theory in practice and get a toolkit to make it happen. It’s fun, interactive and inspiring. And you get ICAgile certification to pin to your wall.

“Amazing! I really didn't want the course to finish. Very informative and lots of interesting things to implement in our organisation. It is very rare to leave a two-day course excited and satisfied.”

Learn more or book the Agile Professional Foundation

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How to sleep anytime, anywhere

Sleep may well be the greatest productivity aid ever. But on hot summer nights, with our back-to-work brains fizzing, those vital forty winks can be hard to come by.

Here’s the technique that was developed to help U.S. fighter pilots sleep anytime, anywhere.

How to fall asleep in 120 seconds — Sharon Ackman on Medium

What could your nonprofit do with $10,000 in Google ads?

To achieve the change you were set up to deliver, your nonprofit needs help. You need to attract donations and volunteers, get people involved in events and campaigns, and much else besides.

With Google Ad Grants, nonprofit organisations can get $US10,000 worth of Google ads each month to do just this kind of thing.

To sign up, you just need to register with TechSoup in your country, fill in a short form and upload your charity certification.

How to make Google Ad Grants work for your nonprofit — Nonprofit Tech for Good

Productivity hacks from our back issues

The Boost News archive is full of ideas for better ways to work. Check it out,  and if you’re not already a subscriber, sign up.

Browse the Boost News archive

Sign up for Agile Professional Foundation - our next course is 11–12 February. Get the skills to deliver successful projects that deliver more value, faster.

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