A commonly held belief is that it’s best to batch work – to handle similar tasks in large, consolidated chunks. The notion makes intuitive sense. It allows you to focus on one activity at a time and avoid so-called switching costs of switching activities. But as with so many other instances of unverified intuition, this particular notion is flat-out wrong. Batching may avoid switching costs, but it greatly protracts flow time, which, in the long run, can end up being far more expensive. Which is why the Toyota Production System introduced the concept of heijunka – “leveling”. Previously on “Game Planning With Science!”: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 By Reading This Post, You Will Learn: Why batching to avoid switching costs is a problematic solution The cost of batching Why the traditional production->alpha->beta->certification model essentially batches your entire game The … Continue reading Heijunka: Why Batching Is Not Your Friend – Game Planning With Science, Part 14