Forecast with Little's Law
Apply Little's Law to estimate cycle time from WIP and throughput.
A VP asks whether the team can finish 30 onboarding tasks this month. The board says 22 cards are active, but nobody can explain whether that is healthy or dangerous. In a stable flow system, average cycle time is approximately average WIP divided by average throughput. Treating throughput, WIP, and cycle time as independent wishes. If WIP is 22 and throughput is 5 per week, promising one-week delivery is fantasy unless the system changes. Before the team promised every stakeholder 'next sprint.' After they counted 22 active cards and 5 completions per week. 22 divided by 5 gave roughly 4.4…
Sign up free — one personalized lesson every day, matched to your role and goals.
Already have an account? Sign in