{"id":2426,"date":"2010-06-01T04:04:58","date_gmt":"2010-06-01T11:04:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/?p=2426"},"modified":"2014-10-04T05:27:38","modified_gmt":"2014-10-04T10:27:38","slug":"software-development-is-queue-management","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/software-development-is-queue-management\/2426\/","title":{"rendered":"Work in Process Software Development: How to Manage WIP Using Little&#8217;s Law to Deliver Software Faster"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"a296a24fa2fc69ef5487857f02f111e8\" data-index=\"9\" style=\"float: none; margin:10px 0 10px 0; text-align:center;\">\n<script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Single Post readerboard -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:inline-block;width:728px;height:90px\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-8207522353004717\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"1144967431\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n<p>Little&#8217;s Law is an incredibly helpful principle for business. Unfortunately, it is not used enough, or it is poorly understood. In this article, I want to explore software development processes are impacted by variability, work in process, and how to use Little&#8217;s Law to help improve inefficiencies.<\/p>\n<p>In this article, we explore Work in Process Software Development and How to Manage WIP Using Little&#8217;s Law to Deliver Software Faster.<\/p>\n<p>You can also view all 40+ articles on <a title=\"articles on queueing theory\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/queueing-theory\/\">Queueing Theory<\/a>\u00a0to further review of Queueing in general.<\/p>\n<p>As review,<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Little&#8217;s Law: For a Queueing (Queuing) System in steady state, the average length L of the queue equals the average arrival rate \u00ce\u00bb times the average waiting time W.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Or,<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>L = \u00ce\u00bbW<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Put another way,<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Total Cycle Time = Number of Things in Process \/ Average Completion Rate<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>For example, let&#8217;s assume 8 feature request are what a team can consider per month. \u00a0If 16 features were in the backlog, then it will take the team 60 days to complete.<\/p>\n<p>In other words,<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>60 Days = 16 features \/ 8 feature capacity<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>But, assume that 4 feature request were released, then it will take the team an average of 14 days to complete those features.<\/p>\n<p>So, what does Little&#8217;s Law teach us about speed of delivery?<\/p>\n<p>To deliver faster, we can do two things:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Reduce the size of work in process (things in process)<\/li>\n<li>Increase the average completion rate<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>That&#8217;s it. \u00a0When reduced to the physics of Queueing, those are the two variables that are drivers of speed.<\/p>\n<h2>Other Applications of Little&#8217;s Law<\/h2>\n<p>How else might you apply Little&#8217;s Law? \u00a0Would Little&#8217;s Law be helpful in your work? \u00a0How?<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-15196\" title=\"manage wip and work in process software development using little's law\" src=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/work-in-process-software-development-queue.jpg\" alt=\"work in process software development, use little's law to manage wip\" width=\"775\" height=\"407\" srcset=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/work-in-process-software-development-queue.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/work-in-process-software-development-queue-600x315.jpg 600w, https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/work-in-process-software-development-queue-300x157.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 775px) 100vw, 775px\" \/><\/p>\n<!--CusAds0-->\n<div style=\"font-size: 0px; height: 0px; line-height: 0px; margin: 0; padding: 0; clear: both;\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Little&#8217;s Law is an incredibly helpful principle for business. Unfortunately, it is not used enough, or it is poorly understood. In this article, I want to explore software development processes are impacted by variability, work in process, and how to use Little&#8217;s Law to help improve inefficiencies. In this article, we explore Work in Process [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12327,"featured_media":15196,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[417,641,643,642,640],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Work in Process Software Development: How to Manage WIP<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Work in Process Software Development: How to Manage WIP is an article that shows how to use 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